A Pilot from Roanapur
by WinterRonin
Summary: Instead of being left with his uncle, Shinji gets picked up by his mother's cousin. One Rokuro Okajima, or Rock as he's more commonly known as. A young Shinji grows up seeing Rock and Revy as parental figures, meaning he isn't going to be the push over that Gendo expects once he arrives.
1. Chapter 1

Tokyo 2004

"I'm sorry father! Please I'll be a good, just let me stay." a young boy called out to his father as the older man left him at the station platform, completely ignoring the poor child's cries. In the distance he watched his father get stopped by two people, a man and a woman, and seemed to recognise at least one of the two.

"You could of at least waited until I got here before you left." the Japanese man said, dressed in a simple white shirt and black trousers with matching shoes, the woman was dressed in a black skirt with stockings and brown boots with a brown jacket left undone exposing a black tank top.

"I said nine in the morning. It's your own fault your late." the man said with very little emotion, the woman muttered something under her breath as she looked at the child he had just saw the asshole leave behind, "I said I'll take him in. And as his father I would of thought you'd have some trace of humanity left for him." before he got too far away he called out to him, "Yui would be furious you were doing this and you know it. Is your work more important then your own son?" the man just dismissed them as he walked past and into a waiting car and drove off. Leaving the mixed Chinese American woman making a couple of rude gestures as he drove off.

"You sure about this? We don't exactly live in a kid friendly city." the woman asked lighting up a cigarette, "I can't just leave him. And he doesn't have anyone else to turn to, and besides I made a promise to her. I just can't turn away like him." the man said walking towards the little boy, who was struggling to hold back the tears.

"Hi." the man said waving to the child as he took a knee in front of him, "Shinji I don't know if you remember me, but I'm your mothers cousin, Rokuro Okajima." the boy slowly nodded, "Your going to come live with me, but you'll have to listen to what I say. Can you do that?" he said in a gentle tone, not wanting to make Shinji anymore scared then he already was.

He nodded wiping away the tears, "I will." he looked up at Okajima with a big smile, "Good. First things first." he picked up Shinji and placed him on his shoulders while picking up his bag with his free hand, "Everyone were we live calls me Rock, you do the same, alright?", "Alright." he said with a still shaky voice, "Who's she?" he added, pointing to the dark haired woman smoking a few feet away, "That's my wife Revy, say hello.".

Shinji gave a slight bow from his spot on Rock's shoulders, "Hi Revy, I'm Shinji.", "Yeah half-pint I know who you are. You better not be as much of a handful as he is." she said in a relaxed tone, pointing to the both of them. "Come on Rock. Our planes going to leaving in about two hours. And I am not having the window seat again.", "Why's that?" Shinji asked out of the blue before looking away a little embarrassed, "Well Shin, Rock lives up to his name when he's asleep. Nothing short of an explosion could wake him up." she said chuckling at the face Rock gave her, "Funny Revy. But I'll let you in on a secret. I was awake when you were shaking me on the plane." Rock said quickly walking past Revy, who was stopped mid step, he was awake while she was bursting for a piss. "Come back here Rock!".

* * *

This is just a short introduction to the whole story that I've got going on, its been on the backburner for a while but thought I'd stick the prologue on just to kick things off, i'll either put the next one on later today or tomorrow, and its.


	2. Bonus Chapter 1 (Enter the pilot)

A collection of short stories about Shinji's life during his early years in Roanapur, up to the last two days before leaving for Tokyo-3. These will act as something of bonus chapters in-between a set numbers of chapters whenever I can sort them out, sometimes back to back if I'm stuck on the main story.

* * *

Roanapur 2004

"Rock. It's hot!" Shinji groaned from Rock's shoulders as he tried to shade his eyes from the unrelenting sun, "Well you'll have to get used to it Shinji. This is your home now.", "Yeah half pint but its not that bad once you get inside. With got air-con!" Revy said trying to cheer the poor kid up, they had only just set foot in the city and the heat wave was still in full swing.  
"Revy can you call Benny to come pick us up, I'll get Shinji under some shade." Revy wondered off to find a payphone as Rock took Shinji to a small outside restaurant to get him something to eat and more importantly something to drink.

"Shinji do you have any questions so far?" he asked as he watched the young boy tuck into a chicken burger and a tall glass of lemonade, "Where will I be staying?", "With us at our place. We even got you your own room." Revy appeared next to Shinji and sat down, "Benny should be here in five. Man I'm fucking glad to be off that plane.", "Revy! Can you cut back the language?" Rock pointed to Shinji only to have his wife raise a sceptical eyebrow at him, "Your kidding right?" she lit up a cigarette and took a drag, "Rock remember where we are. You'll be lucky to go an hour without hearing something rude." he was about to raise a counter point but then realised he would be doing it in vain. Even he swore like a sailor.

"Your right. I hate to admit it but your right." he sighed and lit his own cigarette from Revy's, while Shinji finished off his food and was now looking much better as he smiled at them. They ended up having a light conversation about what he liked and disliked as they waited for their ride to show up.

The sound of a honking horn got their attention and they saw a blonde haired man with glasses waving from the driving seat of a red plymoth, "That's Benny, lets go Shinji." he walked over to the car and put Shinji's bag in the boot. "Hiya Shinji. I'm Benny, nice to meet you." Shinji shyly waved at the computer tech and went back further into his seat, clearly a little nervous around new people. The drive through the city showed Shinji the normal life of Roanapur, they hope he wouldn't see the night life, he was more then likely already scarred from the last two weeks, first his mother dying and then his own father abandoning him.

"So Benny where's Dutch? It would have been nice for him to come as well?", "He's finishing up some repairs on the Lagoon, the engines been getting a loss of power lately.", "What's the Lagoon?" Shinji asked and looked down shyly when they looked at him. Rock chuckled while he ruffled the young boys hair, "Don't worry about it Shinji, we're not going to get angry. The Lagoon is the boat we used to conduct our business.", "It's a torpedo boat Rock." Revy deadpanned as she blew a lungful of smoke out the window, "And most of our business isn't exactly legal. Dumb ass." Shinji went wide eyed as he looked at the tattooed woman, "What do you mean not legal?", "Exactly what I said Shin. As in criminal activity." Shinji looked terrified as he backed away from Revy and went further into Rock.

"Shinji! Look at me." he turned Shinji to him and looked him square in the eyes, "We're not going to let anything bad happen to you Shinji. Your family now." the tears slowly formed and the little boy began to cry loudly as he hugged the former business man, he knew that the last few days were now catching up to him and he was now without parents. "Shinji listen to me. This city will slowly change you, it will give you a different look on the world but don't let it frighten you. It just means you can face life head on and get through almost anything it throws at you." Shinji nodded as he continued to cry and both males were surprised when Revy spoke up, "Just stick with it Shin. You'll be fine.".

Whether it was the way she looked out the window with rare gentle eyes or the reassuring tone of her voice but Shinji stopped which turned to the odd sob, and began to believe what Rock and Revy had said about him being alright.

* * *

3 Weeks later.

Shinji slammed the door behind him with as much force as he could muster. He had just gone out for a quiet walk around town with Rock and Dutch, he was in awe of the giant man who seemed to always remain cool and collected he had actually thought he was a giant the first time he had meet him. But he was scared at that moment in time. Very scared.

"Shinji open up!" Rock called as he knocked on the door, "NO!" he dove onto his bed and hid under the covers, he had just met someone who scared him beyond all reason, it was a Nun. Which was strange as he had just run all the way back to the office from the church they had just been in, she had scared him when she showed him her gun which was the last thing he was expecting from a Nun. "Shinji! Open the door!" Rock said knocking again, "Let's just talk about it Shinji." it was time to plead with the boy now.

He had seen Revy's guns but she had never, ever pointed them at him like Eda had which sent him running as fast as his little legs could carry him, "Besides… You owe me from all the exercise you made me do trying to keep up with you." he laughed lightly as he wiped himself down with a towel, running through a heat wave wasn't the best exercise to do. "So please just open the door." he heard some shuffling and the lock was undone followed by more shuffling.

Rock opened the door to find Shinji sitting on the edge of his bed, "Shin. That nun Eda. She isn't your usual nun as you could tell, and she isn't exactly quick when it comes to thinking sometimes." ruffling his hair he continued, "An example was her pointing her gun at you, she shouldn't of done that Shin.".  
"That was scary though…", "I know. But you have to get used to this Shinji. If you keep getting scared then you wont last long here Shinji, that's the truth. Just promise me that you will try and not let this place get to you.", "Okay.".

* * *

A few days later Rock took Shinji out to grab some groceries for the crew when they went out on a job later on in the day, they were paying for the stuff when the cashier didn't give them the correct change, far from it in fact. "Excuse me? Where's our change?", "Shove off. No change given." the grumpy man said ignoring the two, "Excuse me." Shinji said politely causing the man to look down at the young boy, "What?", "Give Rock his fucking change." Rock's jaw dropped as did the cashiers, who out of shock gave them the change.

Outside they walked along in silence, in reality Rock was still speechless about what he had just heard Shinji say. "Shinji…" the young boy looked up at him, "Well done. You have now settled into Roanapur." he couldn't wait to tell everyone about it.

* * *

6th June. Following year.

Shinji had gotten partially used to the workings of the city and many people had taking a liking to the young boy who, while polite to most could now curse and swear like a sailor and was only currently four years old. Soon to be five.

Today was his birthday and he was excited at it being his first birthday here in Roanapur, but was worried about what to expect. "Shin!? You ready yet?" he heard Revy call through his door, "Yeah I'm just putting a shirt on." wearing long shorts and a plain grey shirt he ran through the door and skidded along the floor in his socks stopping in the living room.

Everyone in the company was there and they were all glad that Shinji personality had done a complete u-turn, he started off as timid shy young boy and is now a normal if not slightly rude at times boy.  
"Happy birthday!" they called as he jumped around happily, "Alright calm down Shinji. Here we got you something as a group, well a few things actually since we all couldn't agree what to get you." Benny said, "So what'ca get me?" Shinji asked quickly, "Well as your boss I'll be first." Dutch said with a smile as he handed Shinji a box, which he quickly tore open.  
"DVD's for those slow boring days Shin. I know how you hate them so I got a variety of things I know you'd like." inside where anime, classic movies, TV series, blockbusters and the odd musical, "Musicals Dutch?", "Some of them are surprisingly good." he said with a shrug as Shinji bowed to the boss man, "Thanks boss.", "Me next Shinji." Benny said speaking up and handing Shinji a sate of the art phone, "This is a great model. I know your only five but this way you can get in touch with anyone anytime and you have a camera and internet access.", "Wow Benny getting an electronic gift what a shocker." Revy said with a chuckle as she wrapped her arm over Rock's shoulder.

"Well Shin. Rock and I have gotten you something together." she reached over the back of the sofa and pulled out a large case, "I wanted to go with a new P90 for you but Rock convinced me to get you this." she set it down and he saw it was a Cello, "Rock…" Shinji looked at the musical instrument with sadness and joy, "I knew you loved to hear Yui play so I thought you might want to take it up." Shinji nodded and took the object gingerly.

"She was… it always cheered me up if I was sad…", "Well I know she'd like for you to play Shinji so you can be as good as her." Rock said kindly encouraging the young boy, "Yeah Shin I wouldn't mind hearing you play a few things for us." Revy said ruffling Shinji's hair, "Come on. We got to go pick up your other gifts. Balalaika sends her regards, I'm still surprised that you haven't met her yet but she is still dealing with a power struggle in Moscow, she won't be back till the end of the month." Rock picked up the car keys and tossed them to Benny, "Your driving. Chang's our first stop. He's expecting us.".

* * *

That's going to be it for this chapter. I may continue the birthday arc but since these are all short stories in a sense they aren't really deeply connected to the main story.


	3. Chap 2: A Letter from Tokyo-3

Here we go the next chapter of the main story. I did a double update because I doubt I'll be updating for a week because of work, but if I can I'll do it. I'm hoping that this will be well received since the first tiny chapter was attracting a lot of attention.

* * *

Thailand, Roanapur 2014

"Shinji! Get your ass out of bed!" Revy shouted from the hallway while banging on the door, adding a few kicks as motivation. "Come on! Five more minutes." Shinji called out from beneath his covers, "Too fucking bad! Its ten in the morning and we've got a job. So hurry it up before I come in!" she said using a tone that Shinji had learnt very quickly when he had first came here.

And he knew that she wasn't joking, he had found that out the hard way a few weeks ago when he was getting changed and she had kicked the door in while he was enjoying the breeze around certain parts of his body, parts that his guardian didn't have to see. And her laughing hadn't done much to lessen his embarrassment.

"Alright I'm up. I'm up." he said finally sitting up in his bed, his shoulder length brown hair sticking out all over the place, "Good. You got five minutes!" she said as he heard her walk down the hall, "God. What's crawled up her ass?" he said to himself as he slid out bed and stuck a pair of black jeans on and a grey short-sleeved shirt, before slipping on a pair of running shoes.

His body while slim had lean muscle, he was clearly fitter then most young teens his age and he knew it, he even had a couple of scars that he had picked up in 'accidents' after he had arrived. "Another boiling day in the cesspit of the world." he said looking out the window of his room, its what everyone called the city but to him, he wouldn't be happier anywhere else.

"Well looks like I don't have to drag you out after all. Way to ruin my fun." Revy said from the sofa with a smile on her face, "Sorry I just couldn't be bothered." he replied with a smirk as he walked in the kitchen, "Looks like I'm starting to rub off on you Shin.", "It's been ten years. I would of bloody well thought so." he said from the kitchen hearing a burst of laughter from Revy as he made his morning coffee. "Oh Shinji your awake." a deep voice said from behind him, looking around he saw Rock and Revy's boss.

"Hi Dutch. Yeah my alarm clock went off a little late." he said with a little chuckle, "I know. I heard. I need a word with you for a minute.", "You need a runner?" Shinji said straight away as if reading the older mans mind.

"Yeah. To Balalaika, while we do this other job. Should be back before lunch." the Vietnam veteran said. Being the oldest member of the crew, Dutch was still an active member of the Lagoon company as its boss but he tended to let Revy deal with the more 'active' parts of the job, especially when everything went wrong. Namely shooting.

"Sure thing. She is expecting me this time right?" Shinji said with a deadpan look, causing Dutch to walk away, "Yes. I forgot the first time. Sue me.", "Yeah but you didn't walk in on her when her A.C was broken in the middle of a heat wave!" he said loudly but with a humorous sound to it.

He would forget that day anytime soon, he had walked in on the Russian mob boss while she was wearing nothing but a skirt and a black lace bra, and if looks could kill he would of died on the spot. He had completely forgotten to knock on the door, he had Revy's actions around him when he was younger to blame for that one, and saw the Russian beauty smoking a cigar while fanning herself. Her long blonde hair was hanging free over the back of her chair, within a second he had a gun aimed at his head and thought his life was over right then and there, until he managed to stammer out who he was and why he was there.  
After that she had lowered the gun and properly introduced herself, and Shinji found her a highly intelligent and sophisticated woman, who had been talking to him all the time while still wearing the skirt and bra, not that Shinji had been complaining. While it wasn't the greatest first impression, he hadn't died and that was the thing he took away from it.

"Do you want me to leave now?" Shinji asked before taking a big mouthful of coffee, "Yeah we'll be heading out in a minute anyway. Shouldn't be to long as I said." Dutch said heading out of the kitchen and on his way down to the Lagoon. "See ya later then." Shinji said running past Revy and Rock, who had just entered the office. Before Rock could say anything Shinji was already out the door and on his way.  
"Where is he off to in such a hurry?", "He's got a message for Balalaika, and you know what those two are like when they get talking. I think Sis has been good for him." Revy said embracing Rock with her arms over his shoulders nuzzling his neck, "Like you've been?" Rock said with a grin which earned him a punch in the side.

* * *

Shinji jogged through the streets of Roanapur heading towards Hotel Moscow's headquarters, he was always happy to talk with Balalaika about anything, in a way she was like an aunt to him but a lot firmer with her words. His thoughts quickly went back to his mother and how he had come to end up living with Rock and Revy, "I will find out what happened." he said to himself, when he was old enough Rock had told him the details surrounding his mothers death and they all knew that it was a cover-up and he had vowed to find the truth.

Shaking his mind free he continued to head towards Hotel Moscow. While the city was hot at this time of day, many people knew it was better to stay inside or somewhere cool as the temperatures shot straight up at noon, so people were going about their business early so they could have what Shinji liked to call 'Siesta time', since hardly anyone was on the streets from noon to two in the afternoon.

Arriving at the building were the Russian mob boss spent most of her time, he checked the condition of the envelope he was carrying, Balalaika didn't like it when goods were damaged even if it was him delivering it, while he thought that she wouldn't harm him, he was positive he would pay for it someway.

"Morning Shinji." one of the guards said, Shinji knew him as well as most of Hotel Moscow and Balalaika's small personal army, going past all the guns and crimes they were all pretty decent people. "Hi Yuri, Alex" he waved to the two guards as they let him pass into the air conditioned lobby of the building, leaving Shinji standing still for a moment to enjoy the chilling breeze swirling around him.

Heading to the elevator he pressed for the tenth floor where her office was located, on the way up he had to endure the traditional cheesy music that he knew every elevator had, upon opening he saw Balalaika's right hand man waiting for him, "Boris-san." he said with a small bow.

Boris was nothing short of a giant, over six foot and easily two hundred pounds of muscle he was an intimidating sight, especially with that scar across his combat hardened face, but Shinji knew better. He knew that the Sergeant was an alright guy who was more then willing to do what it took to help his comrades.

"Shinji. The captain is expecting you." he said calmly as he headed over to the office door and knocked twice, "Captain. Shinji has arrived with a message for you.", "Send him in." came the always confidant voice of Balalaika.

Boris opened the door and shut it after Shinji had entered, clearly she wanted to have some measure of privacy with him, but he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Stopping in front of her desk he bowed as a sign of respect to the powerful woman, dressed, thankfully, in her usual red business suit but she had obviously finished her cigar, "Balalaika-san" he greeted but the Russian woman's face was not one of amusement at the moment.

"Shinji. How many times do I have to tell you to drop the formalities with me." she said with a straight face, "I'm sorry, I forgot.", "And I thought we had agreed with how you should address me." Shinji went a little red with embarrassment, he knew where this was going and he knew how much she was enjoying this, taking a deep breath he said what she wanted to hear "Balalaika-chan.".

Her straight face was replaced with a big smile, "There we go. That wasn't so hard was it Shinji-kun?", "You really enjoy doing this don't you?" Shinji said as he took a seat, wanting to steer the conversation away from this as soon as possible, she rather enjoyed trying to make as embarrassed as possible, "One of my few guilty pleasures. But how are you? I haven't heard from you in almost a month." she asked.

"I've been fine. Just helping out with a few odd jobs, keeping up with my studies and so-on.", "That's right I almost forgot your home schooled. Not that I can blame you really, if I had a child I wouldn't trust the schools around here." she took the envelope from Shinji and opened it, and read through the three page note.  
"But as long as your not getting into trouble then its fine. I just hope that Dutch isn't working you too hard.", "No. Just light jobs, it frees up everyone to do the big ones. Speaking of which…" Shinji asked with a small smile, "I'm sorry but I have nothing that requires your families 'unique' talents." Balalaika said dropping the note in a pile of similar papers on the side of her desk.

"Shit." he muttered only to realise what he had just said, "Sorry." but she just gave him a small laugh, "It's nice to see that Revy has rubbed off on you. But hopefully that's not a bad thing.".

They continued talking for another hour about minor things and just making general small talk, before there was a knock on the door, "Enter!" she called out and in walked Boris, "Captain. Your other 'guest' has arrived." the large man said in a serious tone, "Very well. I'm sorry Shinji but we'll have to cut this short." she opened her desk drawer and pulled out a note, "This arrived for you yesterday. I took the liberty of reading it, I hope you aren't mad." Shinji shook his head, "I could never be mad at you. And being honest, I wouldn't want to be." taking the note he stood to leave only for Balalaika to clear her throat on purpose.

"Alright." Shinji said with a sigh as he leaned over and gave her a small kiss on the cheek, "Thank you." she said with a smile, and again it was one of the many things she liked to do to embarrass him, on the way out he saw Boris standing along with a group of six members of Hotel Moscow along with another man possibly from South America, who looked like he had tripped and fell on his face.

He walked past as the bundled the man into her office and to his fate, he knew that anyone who went in that office alive wasn't going to be coming out the same way. The lucky ones however might be just badly beaten. While Shinji didn't agree with what was going to happen he knew that she only did it to the people who really deserved it, that was one of the first lessons Rock had taught him when he first arrived, "You can't change this city. It can only change you." the words still rang through his head even ten years on and he would always remember them.

* * *

He arrived back at the office and sat down on the sofa, before remembering that he hadn't read the letter that Balalaika had given him.

Taking it out of his jeans pocket he read it and his eyes narrowed at the contents…

_I have use for you. Come to Tokyo-3._

_Gendo Ikari. Commander of NERV._

He hadn't even bothered to sign it as his father, or even acknowledge him as his son. Ever since he had been abandoned by him ten years ago he was effectively cut off from being Shinji Ikari and was just called either Shinji or Shin as Revy called him when he wasn't in trouble, if he went back it would be letting a stranger into his soul, he hadn't answered to Ikari in a long time.

The others returned to find Shinji sitting on the sofa staring at a piece of paper on the coffee table with a beer in his hand, "Hey Shin what's with the depressed look for?" Revy asked, he looked up at her with eyes that she knew all to well, he was pissed at someone. Big time.

She reached over and read the note before handing it roughly to Rock, "That son-of-a-bitch. He really has some fucking nerve, should just send him back a giant 'fuck you'." she said folding her arms, "I couldn't agree with you more." Rock added sitting down next to Shinji, "But I think it would be a good idea to go." Revy and Shinji looked at him with wide eyes, "WHAT! Is your tie on to tight Rock. The asshole abandoned him, Shin doesn't owe him anything. If you ask me I don't even think they could be related." she stood up and walked off into the kitchen still ranting on about it, leaving Shinji and Rock alone.

"You really think I should go?" he asked calmly before taking another mouthful of beer, "Why not. He's the sort of person who thinks the world shines out their ass. He'll think that you would jump at the chance to get back with the estranged father, but prove to him that you aren't a bloody lap dog. Tell him exactly what you always wanted to say to him." Shinji started chuckling and the way he was staring at the note was beginning to creep Rock out, the last time he had seen that look was when Sawyer the Cleaner was about to go to work on someone.

Revy returned with two beers, tossing one to Rock. "What did he decide?", "I think he's going back. But that's just going on the insane giggles." Rock said calmly as he opened the beer and took a large swig, "Damn right I'm going back!" Shinji suddenly shouted jumping to his feet, which scared the crap out of Rock and Revy. "I'm going to tell that old fart that he can go shove it in person.".

* * *

Shinji woke up the day of his departure from Roanapur with the king of headaches, he couldn't believe Revy when she said he was going to have a party to remember, problem was that he couldn't remember a whole lot of it. Rolling out of bed he struggled to gain his bearings as he tried to find his pants, which he found hanging from the ceiling fan, "I don't think I want to know." he stuck on a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt as he looked over to the two bags that held his belongings which he had backed last night before the party.

He picked up on his bearings and headed out of his room and down the hallway and into the main room, only to find Rock laying next to Revy on the sofa with his hand on her breast, "Well good for you Rock. I hope you get to keep that hand." he mumbled as he went into the kitchen for his daily morning coffee.

After the first cup he began to remember the gifts that everyone had given him at the party.

Both Rock and Revy had got him a bunch of tapes for his SDAT along with a new MP3 which was rechargeable. What Rock didn't know was that Revy had told him that she had ordered him his own gun, a colt .45, but wouldn't be able to get it in time for him leaving. She said that she would send it the second it arrived.

Dutch and Benny had given him a top of the line laptop with built in web cam and huge memory. Benny had said it was at least ten years ahead of anything that could be found in Tokyo stores.

Sawyer, who he was surprised to see at his leaving-do, gave him a two things. One was a black t-shirt with an ornate cross design on the back and the second was a small silver ring with similar silver ornate crosses, one thing he noticed about the shirt was that it smelt like her. What he didn't know was that Sawyer had somewhat of a crush on the young smuggler assistant.

Eda and Yolonda had given him some classical music scores that were hard to come by, everyone knew about Shinji's love for classical music and how good he was with a cello, he had gotten just after arriving.

Chang had given him one of his long coats that fit him perfectly and topped it off with a pair of designer shades, strangely similar to his own which caused everyone to dub him mini-Chang.

Of course Bao being Bao, he had gotten word around to all the bars in Tokyo-3 so that if he ever wanted a free drink all he had to do was say who he was and tell them that Bao of the Yellow Flag said it was alright. He also gave Shinji a bottle of top shelf Sake for him to enjoy after he got settled in his temporarily home.

Of course that only left Balalaika's gift to him, which was something else. It was a cello that she had tracked down for him, and it was while he was inspecting the wonderful item that he noticed a name inscribed on it, "Yui Ikari". She had tracked down his mothers cello for him saying that she had contacting someone in Tokyo-3 to find its whereabouts, the person in question had gladly sent it to her upon learning who it was for.

Of course he couldn't help but jump into the older woman's arms and hug her, it was the most sentimental gifts he had gotten, and was already on its way to Tokyo-3 seeing how it was too large for him to carry on top of his luggage.

* * *

He now stood in the airport terminal wearing Chang's coat and glasses, Sawyers shirt and his jeans with his open toed sandals which were prefect because of the heat. Though his luggage had already been lost upon arrival and would be a few days before he got it back, so he made his way to the train station where he was to wait for his pickup. While on the train to the inner part of Tokyo-3, Shinji noticed three quite important things.

One, where the hell were the rest of the passengers, surely leaving a main airport would offer him a few people to ride with and not a damn ghost train.

Two was the fact that he had looked at the picture of the woman who was his pickup for what seemed like the hundredth time. "Well she sure is a babe. No denying that." he put the picture back in his pocket and renewed his resolve to stop taking it out every five seconds.

The purple haired beauty was clearly teasing him by exposing her impressive cleavage, which was badly hidden by a yellow tank top, the lower part of her shapely body was covered by a pair of blue shorts, "Reminds me of Revy, kind of." he said but he knew that Revy was one of the three most terrifying women in the world, so this woman properly couldn't hold a candle to Revy.

And the third thing he noticed was something that one would have noticed straight away as they stepped on the train, or at least if you would look up at the sky. The large group of VTOL aircraft flying in the direction he was going only gave him one thought, 'They better on a bloody exercise.' he watched out the window.

* * *

Well the first full chapter I hope you like it. I will be putting in Shinji's first meeting with Balalaika in detail in a bonus chapter later on so don't worry about that. Updates maybe a bit slow as I mentioned but I will try and get it done as often as I can.


	4. Chap 3: Get Ready To Rumble Shinji

Well I have to admit I am surprised with how many people have gotten into this, been checking my emails all through the weekend while at work and seeing all the reviews too. Thank you everyone.

- Kojo208- Oh yes I have something very special in mind for Sawyer don't worry, she WILL be making an appearance in the story. I really like her as a character and she doesn't get nearly enough screen time in the anime.

- Lone Gundam- I'll try and work something in later on but Shinji is more like a mini- Rock, but he does know how to use a gun so we'll see…

-Dark0w1- Yes I'm not a fan of Asuka as I used to be, while I doubt I'll have him choke her she isn't going to be well liked by Shinji. And yes the middle finger will be seen in this chapter too.

Any way on with the chapter….

* * *

After an hour Shinji arrived at the train station at Tokyo-3 that he was meant to be picked up at, however the clear lack of people at the station told him that he either missed the woman or that she was late. Looking at his watch he settled on the latter.

Wandering around the empty station he would of at least thought that there would be some employees about, but as he reached the station steps he decided that he had arrived at a ghost station. Or ghost city would be a better way to describe his current situation.

"Am I even in the right place?" Shinji wondered as he walked over to the public phone and dug out some loose change he had, dialling the number that was on the back of the photo and looked at the woman yet again, "Crap." he looked away from the photo as a recorded message started to play over the phone.

"I'm sorry but the number you have dialled is currently not in service due to the current state of emergency. Please head for the nearest shelter or your district supervisor." before the message could loop Shinji slammed the handset back onto the receiver and yelled at the phone, "Arrrghhhh! You fucking old bastard, you set me up!" he kicked the phone only realising after he felt the throbbing pain in his foot, that he was wearing sandals.

"What else could possibly go bloody wrong?" he asked himself through clenched teeth only for a dull explosion reach his ears, followed soon after by a VTOL aircraft crash into a building two blocks down from were he stood.

"And there it is." he stated just as a large green foot smashed it into pieces, the following explosion was blocked by his sight by a blue Ford Alpine skidding to a stop in front of him.

"Hey sorry I'm late." a woman said opening the passenger door, "That's a damn understatement." Shinji piled himself into the car as he threw his bag in the back, "You're a hard kid to find Shinji.", "Would have been easier if you were on time." Shinji said looking out the window as the alpine went over the registered speed limit in a few seconds.

"So care to tell me why I just saw a giant green foot smash a plane to bits or is that a big secret." Shinji said as if his life wasn't in any sort of danger, "That thing? That was an Angel, not the ones you know though." she said causing Shinji to snort a laugh out, "What's so funny?", "There were no Angels were I lived Miss…", "Misato Katsuragi. And you can drop the miss, it makes me sound old." Misato said taking her eyes off the road as she reached for something at her feet.

She passed him a booklet, "Here this sound explain a few things.", "Welcome to Nerv?" Shinji read out the title of the pamphlet, "Is this were my old man works?" Shinji merely tossed the paper into the back after Misato nodded, loosing all interest in it, "Let me guess. Don't have at lot of love for your father?" Misato asked as Shinji continued to stare out the window, "Yeah you could say that." the way he said it made Misato drop the subject.

* * *

As the Alpine tore through the city streets they ended up driving along a area under construction, "What are they up to?" Shinji said looking to the area in the sky were all the VTOL aircraft were hovering only for them to begin to move back, "Let me see." Misato said stopping the car and leaning across Shinji with a set of binoculars, while leaving him trying to fight back a blush that was creeping across his face.

"What the… There going to use an N2 mine! Get down!" Misato yelled pressing herself into Shinji who found himself in an interesting position, pinned to a seat with Misato's breasts pressing into his face. Not that he was complaining.

The force of the following explosion knocked the car end over end a dozen times leaving them both feeling what being in a washing machine felt like.

"Okay that really hurt." Shinji groaned as he slowly stood up, "Your telling me." Misato said rubbing her back, looking down at her ruined dress, 'I can't believe this. I only brought this the other week.' Shinji turned around and looked at the car seeing that it was on its side he walked over and flipped it back onto its wheels, "Wow. That was impressive Shinji." Misato said, surprised at the sight of a fourteen year old boy flip a car without effort.

Shinji shrugged as he went under the hood and began checking everything over, thankful for all those lessons on mechanics that Dutch had taught him, of course his bosses expertise reached out to cars and a old torpedo boat so he was almost as good as Dutch in his opinion, at least when it came to cars. Dutch could always get the Lagoon working no matter what happened to it.

With a couple of minor adjustments to the power supply the engine turned over with no problem.

"That should hold until we get to where we're going. But I'd take it to a garage when you can." Shinji said clearing his shades before climbing back into the alpine. Within a couple of minutes and a short phone call they arrived at a thick steel door with a strange emblem looking like a maple leaf or something, "So this is NERV?" Shinji asked, his boredom apparent.

"Yes. We're an organization that answers to the UN, and the best line of defence against the Angels.", "Just nuke it." Shinji said as the door opened and what looked like a platform appeared on the other side, once the car was parked the platform shuddered and began to move downwards before picking up speed.

"What do you think they've just done? That wasn't a firework they just dropped it was a N2 mine." Misato said only for Shinji to shrug, "You don't really seem to care do you?", "Anything involving my father doesn't interest me in the slightest." Misato grumbled something as she rested her head on the wheel, she really couldn't believe that this was the same kid that was meant to be shy according to the psyche report that she was given, but he was anything but.

'And what is he wearing? He looks like a drifter. I mean who wear's sandals anymore? This is more then a little confusing for me.' she thought as the lift opened out into the geo-front, which seemed to catch the kids attention, "That's pretty cool. I've never seen a real geo-front before.", "This is humanities last stand against the Angels. Our last fortress of hope if you want to think of it that way.".

* * *

The car train finally stopped and they left the car, and attempted to make their way through the maze of corridors that was Nerv, and finally Shinji decided to voice a very important opinion, "Are we lost?", "No! Of course not…" Misato said a little to quickly to be even slightly convincing, "Yeah right." he whispered.

He looked up and saw the same sign that they had passed less then three minutes ago, twice in fact, "Face it we're lost. Just admit it.", "I only moved here a short time ago, and this place is just one giant maze. Give me a break." she stuck her tongue out at him as they passed through another door into a very windy walkway.

This gave Shinji, who was standing behind Misato a clear view of her behind as the wind lifted up the bottom of her dress, "Not bad." she turned around and looked at him, "Did you say something?", "Nope." he said simply trying to suppress the grin that was threatening to give him away.

Passing through several doors they arrived at a different crossroad just as a blonde woman wearing a lab coat stepped out from one of the nearby doors, and she didn't look happy. "Your late Katsuragi." she said sternly as she stopped in front of them, "Sorry Ritsuko, I kinda got turned around." Misato said embarrassed, "She got lost." Shinji said clearly causing both the women to turn to him.

Clearly not seeing the funny side of it as she stared daggers at him, "This is Shinji Ikari, the third child. As listed by the Marduke report.", "Pleasure to meet you Shinji. I am Ritsuko Akagi, head of Project-E." the blonde said offering a hand to the clearly bored boy. "Yeah ditto." he said folding his arms behind his head after he shook her hand, "Listen not to sound rude but could we just get this over with, that old man better have a damn good explanation for sending for me." Shinji said as they began walking down a corridor which led to a large set of steel doors, "I take it you didn't brief him on the situation.", "Well we had a bit of trouble with the Angel trying to kill us, oh and an N2 mine. It kind of slipped my mind.".

The doors opened and the trio entered a large dark room, with echoed with each step they took, they stopped as the doors slammed shut behind them.

The lights gave to life and Shinji found himself face to face with a giant purple face, "Jesus…What the hell is that!?" he yelled pointing to the huge robot, "That is Evangelion unit one. Our best hope against the Angels.", "Alright…What's that got to do with me?" he asked not taking his eyes of the Eva, "It needs a pilot!" Misato said, clearly not getting the bigger picture.

"One has just been delivered." a voice said looming above them, "You can't mean…", "Yes. Shinji you will be the pilot." Dr. Akagi said facing the boy who had turned to see the source of the voice, "Well, well, well. Look who it is." Shinji said with a huge grin, "Long time no see, Gendo." Shinji said, knowing that using his name would piss him off, not that you could really tell.

"You will pilot it Shinji." Gendo said from behind his folding hands, "Fuck you!" he yelled back, flipping him both birds, surprising both the women and the older man standing behind his father.

"You abandon me. Never call me, not so much as a damn letter. And now you telling me I have to pilot this… thing even when I don't know how! Yeah that's a Gendo brand idea." he shook his head at just how stupid it all sounded. "What a fucking moron. I honestly don't know how your in command of all this? A fish has got more brains then you." Shinji gave a little laugh as he glared up at Gendo's emotionless face.

"Fuyutski our spare is useless. Wake up Rei.", "You can't be serious, after what happened can she even do it?" the older man said trying not to loose his temper, "She's still alive isn't she?".

Shortly after saying that a girl similar in age to Shinji was wheeled in, wearing a white skin-tight suit, reminding Shinji had seen when he was doing a run to Roland's place back in Roanapur. The girls blue hair was her biggest feature next to her extremely pale skin, whether or not that was because of all the bandages and the I.V drip, even from where he stood Shinji could tell that this Rei girl was clearly in pain as she tried to lift herself from the trolley.

Shinji shook his head, there was no way he would be able to sit back and let her pilot this thing in her condition, he knew his own life hadn't been easy by far but Rock taught him what it means to be human. Something his so called father was far from being.

"Take her back. I'll do it." he said clearly, his voice firm with determination, "Your one sick bastard Gendo. I hope you burn in hell for this." Shinji said as he walked towards the Eva dragging Ritsuko with him, "So how the hell do I pilot this thing?" he asked as she began to walk him through the basic operation procedures.

* * *

Once he sat inside and the cockpit was sealed behind him, he stared in disbelieve at the strange controls before him, 'Just what the hell kind of set-up is this? What would be wrong with a standard game controller?' he sighed as he sat back in the odd shaped chair, just as two holes by his feet opened up and started pouring an orange liquid into the plug at a fast rate.

"Oi! What the hell is this?" he yelled through the comms, "Don't worry Shinji. You can't drown in it. The LCL will oxygenate your blood directly so stop being such a baby." Ritsuko said as if this was a normal thing in life. "Well then why don't you come in here and join me!" he yelled just as the LCL reached his head and topped off the plug with the foul liquid.

After holding his breath for a moment he decided to let it into his lungs, only to wish he hadn't, "This tastes like blood!" he said only to get ignored, "You knew that though didn't you?" he smiled through the comms and leant forwards slightly before giving a sigh of relief, seeing a few bubbles raise up, "You didn't just do that!" Misato yelled, "Serves you bloody right. Now tell me how to work this piece of junk.".

"This is a highly advanced piece of equipment, not a piece of junk!" Ritsuko said not sounding the least bit impressed at his choice of words, "Just focus on walking, once you get to the surface. Just think about walking and you'll walk, it works by reading your thought patterns.", "So I can't do back flips?" Ritsuko shook her head, "No. Just focus on walking for now." she turned to the technicians around her, "Activate the connections." as the cockpit began to change colour and looked like something out of a drug trip.

"You have got to be kidding" Ritsuko deadpanned as she looked over a technicians shoulder at the data readout, she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"What's wrong?", "His synch ratio is sixty percent. Even Rei didn't score remotely that high on her first time." Ritsuko began double checking the data as the techs typed over their controls rapidly, "Doesn't matter at the moment. Launch!" she called as they sent the Eva up to the surface at high speeds.

However all that could be hears from the Eva was Shinji's insane laughter as he hit Mach one going straight up.

"That was so cool." he said shaking his head clear as he appeared on the surface, right in front of the Angel, "That however is not." he began to move forwards with relative ease, which surprised the hell out of him, "Did you have to bring me up right in front of him!?" he cursed as he looked around him, not wanted to cause any 'unnecessary' damage.

"Shinji concentrate and listen up. Because we didn't have a lot of time to outfit the weapon stores your only armed with a Progressive Knife which is in your shoulder pylon." Ritsuko said only for the now annoyed pilot, "Can I hear this from Misato?", "Why?", "Because I like her a lot more then you at the moment!" he shouted as he equipped the knife and was a little pissed at the size of the thing.

"It looks more like a box cutter." he was expecting something like a Bowie knife but then he noticed the Angel turn towards him, looking like something between a quarterback in a green jumpsuit and someone trying to dress up as a bird, only the bird like mask seemed to shift around in a way that freaked Shinji out.

"Any ideas?" he asked not really thinking that going for the eyes would work, "Aim for the core.", "What the hell is that?" he yelled as the Angel suddenly began moving towards him, "The big red thing!" Misato called through the comms, which made a lot of sense to Shinji rather then Ritsuko's explanations of everything.

As the Angel reached out to grab Unit-01's arm, Shinji lashed out with a foot as a defensive move which the Eva complied, catching the Angel just under the red core sending it back a couple of blocks, "Nice." he began moving towards the Angel to try and end it quickly however just before he got within striking distance he was stopped by something invisible.

"It's an A.T field! Shinji you'll have to neutralize it with your own if you want to get near it!" Ritsuko said, "And how do I do that!?" he asked only for the Angel to reach out and grab the Eva's left arm and yank it towards itself, breaking something in the process.

Letting out a primal scream Shinji held his left arm, it felt like the Angel had just smashed it in with a crowbar, "Shinji calm down. That's not your real arm your feeling, it's the Eva. Whatever damage you suffer is what you'll feel." the scientist said and at once wished she hadn't said anything, "YOU WHAT! Why the flying fuck didn't you tell me this before I got in the damn thing!" he took several breaths as he staggered backwards trying to get some space between him and the Angel.

However the Angel reaching out with its arm was the last thing Shinji would remember before everything went black.

* * *

Well here we go. Chapter 2. Hope you like Shinji's first battle and his encounter with his father, expect more like it in the future. And Sawyer too.


	5. Chap 4: The Morning After And School

Right here is the third chapter.

-Lone Gundam- I hadn't actually forgotten that, but seeing how the exact date is never set I can alter it ever so slightly, a few years wont wreck the story so its more set in the late 90's, but I guess more in-between the mid and late 90's. But they are close to the ages they would be in this story.

-Kojo208- I honestly wasn't thinking of putting Hansel and Gretel in. It was an interesting story arc but I think it just wouldn't fit in correctly with the story.

-2Rule179- I will be changing up the fight scenes up a bit, with the first one it was mainly to just to put the groundwork together. And thanks for watching.

* * *

Gasping as he sat upright, Shinji looked around at his surroundings and found himself in a hospital room. "Great." he mumbled laying back down, slowly as his head started to feel like a lead weight he tried to remember what had happened to him. Only to come up empty. He thought about all the times he used to drink with Revy, only to wake up without any idea of what had happened or in some cases no pants.

"Well I'm still alive so I must of won, somehow…" he thought aloud seeing on how the entire human race wasn't destroyed he must of beaten it, again he tried to remember what had happened only for the door to his room open and a familiar purple haired beauty walk in with a worried look on her face, which was quickly replaced with a joyous smile.

"Shinji-kun your finally awake!" she lunged at him and embraced him in a bear hug, which he didn't really mind until his lungs started burning for air, the smell of antiseptic which was flooding his nose was soon replaced by Misato's lavender perfume.

"I'm fine. Really I am." he said trying to reassure the frantic woman as she shot off a series of questions, "But can I ask what the hell happened out there? I don't remember anything after that thing grabbed my head." he asked rubbing his arm which still tingled with a dull phantom pain.

"Well after the Angel attacked… we thought that you had died." Misato said looking down at the sheets, not able to look at him in the eyes because of the guilt she felt at bringing him to his near death, "And then the Eva went berserk, it just went after the Angel without pausing. Soon after it broke the core the Angel self-destructed. Thankfully the Eva didn't suffer to much damage, apart from a small amount of head damage." she lied but he didn't have to know that he had a hole several foot wide going through his Eva's head.

"So that what's the headache about…So when can I leave?" he asked, he really didn't like hospitals and the sooner he got out the better, "Right now I guess. I got your clothes cleaned but the shirt still smells of blood." she placed the bundle from the floor onto his bed and waited. "Don't worry it always did smell of blood slightly. But can you give me some privacy…" he picked up the clothes and waited until Misato got the message and excused herself from the room.

Shortly after he had gotten himself changed he left the room only to find Misato leaning against the wall with the traces of a blush on her face, he decided to let it go he was really to worn out to tease her.  
"Let's go." he said walking off towards the nearest set of elevators, "Can I ask you something Misato?", "Sure.", "Where am I going to be staying?" Misato was silent for a moment before she looked at him with a big grin, "You can stay with me.", "You sure that's ok. I wouldn't want to intrude.", "Don't worry I'd be nice to have a roomy.".

* * *

Shortly after having a rather one sided conversation with Ritsuko after making a inappropriate joke, Misato had made it official that Shinji was now her ward, and after seeing the food and drinks they were buying for a 'welcome home' party, Shinji began to wonder if this was such a good idea.

"Well this is… a… I don't think there's a word yet for what I'm seeing." Shinji said as he saw the inside of Misato's apartment, compared to this place Roanapur was heaven on earth, "Just what does that mean?" she asked taken back by her new roomies choice of words.

To emphasise his point he took a pen and lifted up a pair of Misato's underwear which was currently draped over a empty can of beer, "I wont even ask how those got there..." he sighed and flung the panties back into Misato's room, "Can I make a quick call back home. I haven't called since I arrived in Japan.", "Sure. Phones on the kitchen table." Shinji dropped his bags and went for the phone and started dialling a number he knew off by heart.

* * *

"Can someone fucking get that!" Revy yelled from her spot on the sofa where she was reading a film magazine, "Alright." Rock sighed answering the phone shirtless after getting out of the shower, "Lagoon Company." he answered in his usual business voice. "And here I thought I was phoning Rock." Shinji said though the phone, "Shinji!…" he didn't get to say anything else as Revy pretty much kicked him off the phone, "Shin how you doing!" she said joyfully, it made Shinji laugh at the antics of someone in their forties almost still acting like she was used to when he first met her.

"Took you long enough to phone us, you deal with your old man yet.", "Is Rock alright?" he asked, "Yeah he's fine you know him." Revy said as she watched Rock pull himself out of the sofa he had just been launched into by his wife's boot.

"So spill already…", "Have you seen the news recently.", "No. Hang on…" she said leaning away from the phone, already knowing where this was going, "Benny! Anything happen where Shin is!?", "Yeah. Now that you mention it, something about an attack on Tokyo-3 by something called an Angel." the computer hacker said from his room, "Something about an Angel right?" Revy asked Shinji, "Yeah. I was piloting the thing that stopped it." there was a pause before Revy screamed at him, "Why d'go Shin!" the praise didn't stop for a few moments before the gunwoman collected herself, "Anyway everyone's really impressed…Hang on Rocky wants to talk.".

"Shinji is that true?" Rock asked in a caring tone, "Yeah. Ended up in hospital for the day, but before you say it. I'll be careful.", "Alright. Just so you know. Oh before I forget remember to call Miss Balalaika before you go to sleep." he was about to ask how he knew what the time was over in Tokyo but he nearly forgot that Rock had his 'internal Tokyo clock' as Shinji called it, he used to ask Rock randomly the time in Tokyo and it was always right, down to the minute.

"Alright will do." they talked briefly before Rock left him to let him phone Balalaika which he was dreading slightly, after several rings the Russian mob boss picked up, "Yes?", "It's nice to hear you voice Balalaika-sa…chan.", "Shinji-kun I was beginning to wonder if you forgot about me.", 'After our first meeting it would be hard not to' he thought, "Just calling to say that I'm alright and everything.", "Good because your Cello should be there in a few days, I found out where you are now staying. A Miss. Katsuragi, _Da_?" she said smiling through the phone, "_Da. She is a really kind woman. She reminds me of Revy a bit, just without the guns and swearing_." he heard the blonde woman laugh happily over the phone, her laugh was such a relaxing sound.

Not to be confused with her 'other' laugh which generally meant someone was going to end up getting hurt or worse.

* * *

From where she was sitting all Misato could hear was Shinji speaking fluent Russian, something else that his dossier had forgotten to mention, but what annoyed her was that she couldn't understand what he was saying, she heard her name several times but nothing else.

"Well it was nice talking to you Balalaika-chan. I'll call again in a few days after I've gotten settled." muttering a farewell in Russian, Shinji put the phone down and turned around to see Misato standing behind him with her arms crossed and tapping her foot, "We're going to have a little chat…after I get changed into something else." she twirled around and walked into her room.

Coming out in a yellow tank top and blue cut off shorts, and as Shinji had guessed while he was in the car with her, she wasn't wearing a bra. 'I'm a pervert so what?' he thought as he sat down opposite his new guardian, "What did you want to talk about?", "Well for starters, everything. The dossier I was given on you was clearly all guess work because so far nothing even matches up apart from your name." she said opening a can of beer.

"Alright. But can I have one of those…" he said point at the can of Yebisu, "Your underage, so no.", "I was allowed to drink back home, and it was much stronger stuff then beer." Shinji stated with a smirk, "I don't care. This is my house so my rules.", "Alright, alright." he held his hands up in surrender deciding to grab one when she went to sleep, "So where do you want me to start?", "The beginning is usually the best place to start." Misato said grinning as she took a mouthful of the beer.

"Well when I was four my mother died, I've yet to find out how but I will, shortly after that my father abandoned me. Thankfully my mothers cousin Rock picked me up and took me home with him to Thailand." Misato already hated the commander and this just added to it, "Where in Thailand?", "The city of Roanapur." upon saying that Misato choked on her beer, she knew all about Roanapur and its criminal ties, she couldn't believe that Shinji had ended up in such a place.

"Well at least your away from that place now right?", "I would rather be there then here. No offence. The further away from my father I am the better." he looked at Misato with a small smile, "Some of the people there you'd like I know for sure. Revy and Eda, you could clearly give them a run for their money when it comes to drinking." he wasn't going to add 'in the looks department as well', "I saw your fridge before you try and deny it, Revy is Rocks wife even though Eda still tries and flirts with him, but under the threats they are really good friends.", "What about you speaking Russian then? Is that the only language you speak?", "No I speak Chinese as well as English. But Rock knows a lot more then I do, but I only learnt Russian out of respect for Ms. Balalaika she was like a aunt to me while I was there.", "You care for her then?" Misato asked, "Yeah. Because anyone with half a brain knows not to get on her bad side, people who do usually don't do it again." again he missed out something, 'Most of the time they die.' he thought as he thought about the numerous guests she got, that disappeared from the city.

"Anymore colourful characters. Or are you going to tell me you know how to handle gun as well." she said teasing the boy only for Shinji to look to the side, with a 'glad I didn't say it' look, "Your kidding right?", "No. Mostly pistols though nothing big. Revy was the one that taught me how to use one." Misato was beginning to wonder just what else this kid was capable of, first a mechanic, then multilingual and now firearms, "Any other unique talents I should know about?".

Shinji held up his hand and began counting off his fingers, "I can cook, play the cello, know a bit of martial arts, know my way around a computer and am a good runner." Misato sighed she really hadn't expect to be kept in the dark in regards to Shinji's profile, but she didn't mind as he was much better to be around instead of being withdrawn like his profile had said.

"Do you mind if I have a bath? I can still smell that LCL gunk." Shinji said sniffing his shirt then his hands, "Sure its just through that door." Misato said pulling out another beer from the fridge, 'Should I tell him? No it's going to be too funny.' she thought smiling as she drank her beer.

Shinji stood getting underdressed for his bath, standing naked to the world he opened the door and was met with a sight he couldn't understand, because his reflexes took over before he could think straight, "Arrrggghhh!" screaming he ran back out to Misato who was still at the table. "M-Misato! There's a pen…" he stopped when a small penguin with red feathers around his head waddled out wearing a silver backpack, "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention your other roomy. That's PenPen he's one of those warm water penguins." she looked at Shinji and forced herself from going wide-eyed, "Um. Shinji shouldn't you cover up…" she trailed off keeping the giggles under control.

Looking down he saw that he was naked and quickly covered up himself before edging back into the bathroom, leaving a slightly flushed Misato chuckling behind her beer, 'For someone his age that was… big.' she knew another beer was in order to try and get that image out of her head.

She sat back and ran through a few things in her mind, first of all her new charge was highly skilled, he could cook play a Cello, fire a gun and beat someone down if he needed to. Then there was the whole multilingual thing which still surprised the hell out of her, but the thing that kept creeping back into her mind was just how fit he actually was and how…big he was, "Damn.".

* * *

After a day of resting up Misato decided to drop the bomb that he would be going to school, even though he had told her numerous times that he was home schooled seeing how the schools in Roanapur were just as dangerous as the streets.

So there he was walking to school in his new black pants and white shirt but he decided to keep the sandals and screw anyone who told him otherwise, he had managed to get the smudges off his shades and found yet another reason to hate the stuff known as LCL. He wasn't nervous in the least, growing up in Roanapur had prepared him for most things in life, and he doubted most people his age could drive a car, shoot a gun or speak several languages not that he was going to announce that to the world, he really didn't want to make himself a target on his first day.

Though he had been home schooled rather well by Rock and Benny he had never stepped inside a school to learn before, only time he had been when some moron took a shot at Revy and they were caught in a shootout for a few minutes, he hadn't been worried since Revy was in her element, though where she had gotten the hand grenade from was beyond him.

Entering the classroom he had been given he saw only a few people sitting down in the seats, before he even made it through the door a fairly cute girl with brown hair tied into two pigtails came up to him, "Your Shinji Ikari right? You just transferred in from…somewhere." she said trying to think of the name she had been given, "Yeah. And don't worry about trying to say the name, most people there can't say it right anyway." the girl nodded.  
"My name is Hikari Hiroki I'm this classes representative, its nice to see someone coming rather then going in this place." she pointed to a nearby seat in the fourth row one seat away from the window, "You can sit there, that one has been empty for a while and the one next to you is Aynamai's seat but she has been absent for a while now." Shinji nodded and walked to his seat to get himself settled.

"Oh and Shinji. You might want to change your foot wear." Hikari noted pointing to his open toed sandals, "Yeah I haven't got around to getting any new ones. Kind of forgot I was wearing them, back home the average temperature is around thirty degrees Celsius ." Shinji half-lied hoping that the class rep would drop the subject, "Alright but just remember next time.".

Shinji soon began to wish that he was still being home schooled as the day began to wear on, he had gotten numerous emails during the lesson asking if he was the pilot of the giant robot from the other night, to which he smartly replied 'No', but knowing fully that the class rep was watching the messages from her own laptop, he cut out all the vulgar language he could of let loose. He reckoned if he had done she would of gone red either from anger or embarrassment at the words he could use, Revy sure as hell was when he first swore at her.

"Man will you just shut it already." he mumbled as the old man continued to bore them with information on second impact, he was beginning to wish another Angel would attack just so he could get the hell out of there.

Another message appeared on his computer and this time it wasn't a yes or no question, _Outside. At lunch. Near the science block. _Looking around he didn't see anyone who was looking at him or even typing, most people were just asleep or dozing off. 'Oh well. So much for making myself a target' he thought as he tried to get some sleep before lunchtime.

Shinji waited for the person who had emailed him to arrive, he was beyond pissed him off was that he was late, when the bell rang for lunch being over Shinji went back to class and he was not happy at all.  
"Fuckin' great. I bet someone was pissing themselves over this." Shinji mumbled as he sat back at his seat with his stomach grumbling loudly, "Hey new kid didn't you have any lunch?" someone said from behind him, without standing up he tilted his head back and saw a dark haired boy in a black tracksuit sitting next to a guy with glasses who kid of reminded Shinji of Benny.

"I take it you sent me that email?" Shinji said calmly, not ready to loose his temper just yet, "Yeah I did, got a problem.", "Yeah you owe me lunch." Shinji said in a low and hard tone, "Yeah right. Not a chance." Shinji sighed and stood up, "Look Kensuke he wants to have a fight.", "No." he slammed his hands down onto the kids desk so hard that small splinters got thrown up, "But if you want to pull something like that again, it will be bad for your health." he grinned and went back to his seat leaving the rest of the class staring at the two in surprise.

Hikari was more then a little confused when she entered the class and finding everyone silent.

* * *

The rest of the day went well, but of course the kid he had tried to get to understand didn't and decided it would be a good idea to try for round two.

He didn't see the fist in time and went to the ground after he got smacked right on the jaw, "Sorry about that. But I'm a little angry at the moment and need someone to work it out on. And after that little stunt in class, I figured you'd do.", "Go fuck yourself." Shinji said wiping the blood from his lip, "What did you just say?", "Deaf as well as stupid. Well that's good to know." Shinji got to his feet still a little surprised how hard this guy could hit.

"Touji just has some knots to work out on you. The pilot of that robot hurt his sister the other day." Kensuke said standing off to one side as Touji cracked his knuckles, "She should have been in a damn shelter then." Shinji stood his ground as Touji swung at him, "To easy." Shinji grabbed his fist and turned and guided Touji straight past him before lashing out with his foot and tripped him over.

"Like I said to easy." Touji got to his feet and tried to punch Shinji again only to get stopped by Shinji's fist connecting with his stomach, "I don't have time for this. If you think fighting me will help your sister then you really are an idiot. But if it makes you feel better I am the pilot of that damn thing. But I didn't really have any other options at the time." Shinji let him drop to the ground and left the school.

* * *

I hope this is good enough, not much action but just filler, don't worry that will change for the next chapter. Along with Shinji really disregarding the whole Angel situation when the next one shows up. Because we all know what it looks like, don't we?


	6. Chap 5: Its Shaped Like A Thingy

Okay, one, sorry about the delay but trying to find a new job is sorta more important then updating this at the moment, but will keep on top of it. The next update will have to wait a while as I have to write out another flashback from Shinji's early years so I can upload it with the next chapter so double update for all.

- As for the question for if Shinji will be a smoker, the answer is no. Things will be explained in a later flashback, but he will just remain a drinker. Hell I was about ten when I started, and I'm perfectly fine.

Something some teenagers nowadays don't have is something called self-control, I'll be able to keep drinking while they are in hospital with liver damage because they don't know when to stop. Sorry about the little rant but as a UK resident, its bloody embarrassing seeing all these wasted people on the news and its always happening. Anyway on with the story….

* * *

A few days later the next Angel was spotted approaching Tokyo-3 and Shinji was called to pilot again, he didn't mind it too much as it gave him the chance to let off some steam on forty foot monsters from space.

"So Misa-chan were is this coming from I can't see it yet." Shinji said over the comms, he was already on the surface and still couldn't see the thing, "Shinji check your two-o-clock should be in sight now.". "What the hell?…" Shinji mumbled as the Angel showed itself, poking out from behind a high-rise. "It's a giant penis!" Shinji said almost breaking out in laughter, "Shinji-kun it doesn't matter what it looks like. Just be ready to engage." Misato said trying not to laugh along with the rest of the bridge crew.

"Yeah I'll just go play with myself then." Shinji joked moving the Eva forwards to collect a pallet rifle, "Won't be long." he moved behind a building and waited for the Angel to touch down, he'd rather have it on solid ground then in the air were it could have the advantage.

"Come on just a little closer... A little more." Shinji waited for the Angel to get close so he got hopefully take it out with the rifle before it had the chance to use it's A.T field, "Right!" he jumped out from behind the building and unleashed a barrage of heavy calibre shells at the Angel, "Got it!" he said as the Angel thrashed around waving its tentacles. He was half happy that it couldn't deflect the shells with the damn things.

"Blue Pattern is still there!" one of the techs called out and Shinji quickly confirmed it was two tentacles shot out from the smoke caused by the gunfire and sliced his rifle in half, "Alright I need another weapon, fast!" Shinji called out as he put some distance between him and the Angel. It was almost dancing as he used all his willpower to dodge the tentacles, "This thing looks like it belongs on some bad porno." he said through gritted teeth as he headed to the nearest weapons cache. He had whipped out his Prog Knife just in case the Angel decided to close the distance, but all he could think about was all the bad jokes that Revy would make if she saw the thing.

He picked up a new rifle and held the Prog Knife along the barrel in a way so he could drop the rifle and still have a weapon. Unloading another barrage of shells he wondered if they actually did anything useful rather then piss off the penis shaped Angel. When the oversized rifle clicked empty he looked down at it and back up at the Angel only to throw the rifle at it and dodge around a building, it had been a pointless gesture but he would do anything to buy him some time while he tried to move around behind it. However he failed to see the Angel changing direction.

"Storage block twenty six. Send him a rifle!" Misato ordered only to watch as the storage block get shredded by the Angel's energy whips, and to send Unit one flying into a nearby mountain side.

Shinji groaned as he looked up at the Angel which seemed to be taking its time on approaching him, "Bastards playing with me…" he grumbled, "Shinji look!" looking down and saw the kid who had attacked him with his friend settled neatly between the fingers of the Eva, "What the hell are they doing out of a shelter!" Shinji yelled as he looked down at the two terrified boys. "Shinji let them into the plug and then retreat.", "Captain! You cannot let unauthorised civilians into the entry-plug." Ritsuko argued only for Misato to pull rank on her.

Shinji sighed at there idea of a perfect time to have an argument and ejected the plug and deployed a small ladder, "Hurry up you two!" Misato yelled over the comms, as if being crushed wasn't incentive enough being yelled at by Misato got the two moving up the ladder at a speed that impressed Shinji, "Didn't know you could move that fast." Shinji mumbled as they dropped into the LCL filled plug, annoyed at the complaining coming from the two.

"It smells like blood!", "My camera!" but this was just making his eyebrow twitch, "Alright Shinji retreat using route twenty-two." Shinji tried to move but found that he was having trouble, "There's interference coming from inside the plug!", "That's because there are two foreign bodies inside the plug!" Ritsuko stated casting a glare at Misato who was checking the location at the Angel.

"Shinji retreat! That's an order." Misato screamed over the comms, quickly becoming annoyed because the only pilot they had wasn't retreating, "Hey new kid. Aren't you going to move?" Touji asked looking over Shinji's shoulder. "Damn it." Shinji looked up at the Angel, "Damn it!" he banged his hands on the control yokes, "Misato I'm not going to make it. I'm having trouble moving, it would just pick me off.", "Shinji you have to move!" she cried, "Where?" Shinji asked with a smile as he deployed his Progressive Knife again and forced himself to his feet, "Lets dance you bastard!" he yelled pushing the Eva forwards.

* * *

Misato watched as Shinji sent the Eva sliding down the mountain and tackled the Angel. She was in two minds on whether to chew him out or encourage his actions, he barely got the knife ready as both the energy tentacles pieced the stomach area of Unit-One, followed quickly by an insane scream from Shinji. The Progressive Knife found its target and went straight into the core, what followed was the longest twenty five seconds of Misato's life.

* * *

All Shinji could feel was pain, like someone was giving him surgery as he felt the Angel's tentacles embed themselves in his stomach, feeling like someone was trying to rip out of his body from the inside. Screaming at the top of his lungs he pushed forward the control yokes and drove the blade straight to the hilt.

As the timer counted down and hit zero the Angel's tentacles simply disappeared and an eerie silence fell over the command centre, "Status!" Misato called out, "Blue Pattern has disappeared, it's dead.", "Retrieval teams are on route now. ETA five minutes.", "Security has also been dispatched." Misato nodded as she was going to have a little chat with those two boys, and with Shinji.

* * *

Shortly after getting checked over by a medical technician, Shinji was sent into a waiting room and told to wait. And now two hours later he was still waiting.

"What the hell. Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on!?" he called out only for Misato to walk in through the door, "Sit down!" she said in a very serious tone, she did not look happy to see him and he could guess why.

Deciding that shutting up would be a good start, he sat down on the bench and looked at Misato as she took a seat opposite. "Just what the hell was that about? I gave you a direct order. And I expected you to follow it." she said coldly, clearly attacking the Angel hadn't gone over too well with her.

"Not to sound rude or anything Misato, but I'm not a soldier, never have been.", "It doesn't matter! You have to realise that not everything can be solved by simple means. You are a pilot, and part of that is following orders." Shinji looked away, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I understand that, but as I said earlier." Shinji looked at Misato with a steel gaze, "I could hardly move that bucket of bolts. And you expected me to move around the mountain to the escape route? I barely got it to stand up! That Angel would of picked me off before I even got halfway." Shinji yelled standing up, "If you can give me some kind of explanation as to why those two idiots were out of the bloody shelter then I can at least begin to understand!".

There was a sudden silence between them as Shinji took several calming breaths and sat back down. Misato didn't even flinch at Shinji's outburst but simply opened the file folder she had brought with her.

"From what I could understand between the tears. They wanted to see the Eva fight the Angel." she shut the file and gave a dark smile, "Looks like they got their wish." Shinji just sat wondering why they would do something so stupid, "They still alive then?", "Yes. Terrified but alive." he nodded as his face turned softer. "What about this then? Where do we stand?".

Misato moved from her spot and sat next to Shinji, "Well I'm still pissed for you disobeying my orders. I can't stop the punishment from coming but I can make it my responsibility. Several weeks making dinner sounds like a fitting punishment." Shinji's face fell as he rolled his eyes, "Why am I not surprised?".

He was happy that he and Misato were still friends, he could live with being her personal cook since it saved him from tasting her cooking, he still shuddered at the memory from earlier, he was almost tempted to put a scraper to his tongue.

"Can't you just spank me or something?" Shinji said without thinking, which he quickly wished he hadn't. "Oh really? Is that what you want Shinji-kun." Misato said in a lusty tone, he really hoped she was just teasing him, maybe not. "Doesn't matter. Is this what you want?" Shinji said with a slight stutter, but he had turned the tables on her.

She was clearly surprised as she sat upright with a slight blush, "You got me there Shinji. Your pretty quick on your feet aren't you?", "I had to learn fast back home. Witty responses saved my life more then once, Rock came out with a few gems when he had to." not to say that one of them was when he was looking down the barrel of Balalaika's gun.

Misato had wanted to ask what he meant by that but decided against it, it had been a long day and she just wanted to go home have a beer and go to bed.

The day ended thankfully on a happy note between Shinji and Misato which they were both thankful for. She wouldn't of said it out loud but she didn't really want to stay mad at the easy going teenager, she really had a good bond with him which had surprised her that it was formed during the few days he had been staying with her.

* * *

Shinji was back at school the next day with a terrified looking Touji and Kensuke, which made him chuckle at the scared look they gave him as he walked into the classroom, "Hi everyone." he said only for the two boys to shudder as he waved to them, 'Wow. Section-2 and Misato must of done a number on those two.' he thought as he sat down.

"And so begins another boring day." he opened his laptop and was greeted by a instant message, he didn't recognize the user name but opened it anyway, and laughed. It was from Benny.

'He checked the local reports and saw my fight against that Angel.' he typed back, 'So what did you think?', 'You kicked ass! Everyone here is routing for you so keep it up.', 'Do you think you'll come and visit?', 'Dunno. We've got a couple of jobs lined up but I'll pass it onto Dutch and see if we can take a holiday.' they chatted for a few more minutes before the teacher walked in and class officially started.

Shinji almost leapt out the window as the bell for lunch rang, grabbing his bento he ran up to the roof, he had quickly found that this was the quietest place in the school and he liked to eat his lunch in peace.

However this time wasn't allowed to eat his lunch in peace as the door to the roof opened and Touji and Kensuke walked onto the roof with brown bags, "Hey new kid do you mind if we eat up here to?" Touji asked with the slightest hint of fear in his voice.

"Fill your boots." Shinji said biting into a rice ball, "Listen about the other day…", "You made a mistake nothing serious…however your mistake pissed off the wrong people so… in future when you think about doing that again. Don't." Shinji said not tacking his attention off his rice ball, "Thankfully they ended up not giving a shit when the Angel died. So good day all round.", "Well…good, I think." Kensuke said, "Listen you two how about we start with a clean slate.".

"Sure. I'm Touji and this is Kensuke, nice to meet ya!" he said loudly, clearly taking the whole clean slate thing seriously, "Shinji Ikari. Nice to meet you both.", "So where did you transfer from Shinji?" Kensuke asked before taking a bite out of his melon bread, "Roanapur. I was home schooled.", "You joking right?…" the military otaku said, "No. Spent ten years there.", "That is pretty cool…What's so special about it?" Touji asked totally clueless as to what Roanapur was, "Touji it's the centre of all criminal activity in the pacific and Asia.".

"Why did you want to live there?" Touji asked shocked and surprised, "I was abandoned when I was four. My mothers cousin came to pick me up. He took me back and raised me as if I was his own son.", "Why?" the jock pressed, "My mother died and my bastard father just dropped me off at the train station." Shinji said biting into his second rice ball, hard.

After quickly becoming friends with the two guys that had made his last fight in the Eva a little more tougher, school was over after what seemed like hours and hours and this just made Shinji's run back to the apartment all the more better, he had almost done a dead sprint back to Misato's place which surprised the hell out of him seeing how he was wearing sandals. Still chuckling that the class rep hadn't told him to take them off again, he just wanted to see how long he could get away with it before she noticed.

* * *

"I'm back!" he called out as he kicked his footwear off at the door, "Misato! You here?" when he didn't get an answer he walked into the kitchen and found PenPen jumping up at the fridge, "She didn't give you dinner before she left did she?" the warm water penguin gave him a pleading look as he held up his bowl, "Alright just a second." Shinji went about getting PenPen's food, as the penguin snuck a beer out behind him.

"You'd better give me one of those or Misato will find out you've been sneaking beers behind her back." Shinji said not taking his focus of the food, he had quickly picked up on the little birds antics when Misato was not around "Or if that doesn't work its tuna from here on out. Your choice?" the penguin quickly held out the cold can with both flippers, "Good move." Shinji opened the can and took a swig, "Don't care what Revy says. Beer isn't that bad.". He couldn't understand her hatred towards the lovely brew, he didn't have a problem with her rum fixation far from it, but that was another story.

Shinji finished the can and took out one more and sat down on the sofa, "Man I really miss everyone. I hope Dutch lets everyone take some time off… then again Revy doesn't really like Japan that much." he sighed and cracked open the beer, just as the phone rang.

"Damn it." he reached over and picked it up, "Katsuragi residence", "Shinji it is your home as well you know." came Misato's voice, "Force of habit I guess." he took a mouthful of beer and hoped she wouldn't be able to tell, "Well its your home as well, just remember that. Listen you'll have to get dinner for yourself tonight as I have to stay late.", "When will you be getting back?" Shinji asked, "About ten thirty, eleven. So don't stay up alright.", "Of course not." he crossed his fingers and said goodbye.

Shinji had just gotten one of his so called 'ideas' as Revy called them, but really he was just following his gut and making it up as he went along, and sometimes they worked sometimes they didn't, but he had a high success ratio so he couldn't complain.

"Since the food at Nerv isn't really food. I guess she'll be hungry when she gets back, so I'll make her something nice." Shinji said as he checked to see what he could make as a surprise dinner for his guardian, before he could check there was a knock on the door.

"Hello?" he answered opening the door and saw a delivery man, "Package for Shinji Ikari, sign here please." Shinji signed for it and thanked the delivery man as he took the laptop sized package into the apartment, "I wonder if this is Revy's gift?" he pondered after he saw the address were it was sent from, he tore the package open and saw a ornate wooden box, running his hand gently across the carving of a dragon which went around the rim he couldn't help but think that Mister Chang had a hand in this.

Inside the box was a Colt .45 similar in colour to Revy's cutlass's and had a two separate magazines along with the one that was loaded and ready to go, "One of a kind." he said as he shifted his attention to the grip, it was almost identical to Chang's handguns but with twin dragons on either side, on the slide was the Kanji for justice, hope and guts which made him chuckle as he spun the gun around by his finger testing its balance.

"The old man must have been paid a lot of money to make this one. I don't think I've ever held something so well balanced." he ejected the magazine and saw it was fully loaded, "You didn't have to load it though." he sighed as he ejected the round in the chamber and loaded it back into the magazine, 'I do not want this going off in my hands.' he thought as he carefully placed the gift back into its box and took it to his room, he knew Misato would have a fit if she found out about this.

But he had something to get on with so he got back to work with making Misato's special dinner.

* * *

Misato dragged herself out of the elevator as it opened, she was beyond exhausted having spent five hours going over reports and writing more reports, and then had to listen to an hour long lecture by Ritsuko about the improvements that could be made to the Evangelions, to which she wanted to scream her head off. She couldn't barely understand the science behind it all and that was when she made it easy for her by using small words. Some of which she was sure were made up.

Opening the door to the apartment all she wanted to do was have a beer, a bath and a bed, in that order. However she saw that the apartment light was still open and sounds were coming from the kitchen, "Shinji?" she asked slipping her shoes off and moved her hand down to her sidearm purely out of reflex, walking into the kitchen she relaxed when she saw Shinji asleep with his head on the table, "I told you to go to sleep." she said smiling as she picked up the note just next to his head.

_Misato _

_I__'__ve made dinner for you. All you need to do is heat it up, hope you like it. And before you say otherwise I wanted to give you a little thank you in return for letting me stay. Oh and I__'__ve already eaten so if I__'__m asleep don__'__t bother waking me up._

_Shinji- The Awesome One_

The captain couldn't help but smile at the young man snoring softly on the table, "Are you going to keep surprising me Shinji?" she opened the oven and saw a bowl of beef noodles with all the extras, after starting it up and waiting for it to warm up she sat against the counter looking at the young man. 'I can't lie to myself but if he was a little older I would so have him.' Misato thought as she checked the food and found it was nicely warmed up, 'There I said it. Now I can just move it along and ignore the fact that I've got the perfect man sitting across from me.' she sighed heavily as she tucked into the noodle dish only to find it was some of the best she had ever tasted, which didn't really help her forget how great Shinji was.

* * *

The first thing Shinji noticed when he woke up was his neck was stiff and sore, and his face felt like someone had slapped him. "Oh right. Fell asleep at the table. Good move Shinji." he got up and checked the oven and found that Misato had eaten his dinner that he made for her, seeing how the bowl was just dumped in the sink, which PenPen couldn't even reach. He smiled as he read the note next to the sink.

_Shinji_

_The meal was wonderful thank you so much! I__'__ll have to pay you back soon, but don__'__t lie to me again. Okay._

_Misato - The Beautiful One xxx_

He could tell by reading the note that she was smiling as she wrote it, and it was surprising that she had signed it similar to how he signed things, he signed them The Awesome because that's what he was.

"And today is Saturday. What shall I do?" he walked into his room but was stopped by the door going, "This better not be a regular thing." he headed for the door which got knocked on again, "Alright I'm coming, keep your pants on." opening the door he came face to face with the delivery man, again.

"Hey." Shinji said waving to him, "Hey. Got another one for you. Sign here." signing the sheet he picked up the large case and instantly knew what it was, "Ms. Balalaika does it again." he carried the Cello into his room and opened it, revealing his mothers own Cello.

He took a few moments to take in the sight of the one thing of his mother he still had left, he gently lifted the large instrument out, it was already stringed with brand new strings of high quality and was ready to play. Taking a few minutes to tune it to his preferences he opened his door and began to play a soft, relaxing piece he knew.

* * *

Misato woke up, coming face to face with the sun shining through the gaps in her window, "I should get some blinds." she said rubbing the sleep from her eyes. When suddenly soft notes of a string instrument could be heard drifting through the apartment, "What is that?" she rolled out of bed still wearing the shorts and tank top she had changed into the night before, and headed out into the hallway.

She quickly followed the sound and saw the door to Shinji's room open, inside she saw him sitting on his bed, playing a cello with his eyes closed. She was about to say something but stopped herself, she didn't want to ruin this moment that was unfolding in front of her sitting down on the floor sherested her body against the door frame, she was captivated by how talented Shinji was playing the Cello.

After a while he finally stopped and was snapped out of his musical trance by the sound of someone clapping, "That was beautiful Shinji." Misato said from the floor. Shinji just froze in place, caught somewhere between embarrassment and acceptance for his skill.

"You…I…I didn't know you were awake M-Misato." Shinji managed to say as he put his Cello off to one side, "I wasn't but it was a very nice thing to wake up to.", "You really t-think it was good?" he asked, "That was some of the best music I've heard Shinji, how did you get that good?", "Well nobody told me at home told me to stop playing so I just carried on… I know Rock enjoyed hearing me play… since he and my mother were both close." he said looking at his mothers Cello, "But this Cello is a hundred times better then my last one.".

"Why's that?" she asked tilting her back to the door frame, "It was my mothers. Miss Balalaika found it for me before I left. I never actually asked her how she got it or who from." Misato thought for a moment and decided that she might get to know a little more about Shinji's past life, with it being a Saturday she didn't have to be at work and Shinji didn't have to be at school.

"Shinji do you want to do something today? Maybe go for a drive, grab something to eat, hit the beach…" Misato continued to fire off ideas as to what to do, "Sure.", "And maybe tell me about your friends and family from Roanapur?", "Okay. But how about somewhere a little more open.".

* * *

To be honest this might not be what I wanted, while I wanted to change up the Angel fight so it was different I just couldn't think of anything good at the time, will change it if I can think of something good to put in its place. But for now look forward to the beach episode of this story and an appearance by ... someone from Roanapur. Who could it be?


	7. Bonus Chap 2 (Presents and Babysitting)

Right this is part one of a double update like I promised. This first part more or less follows on from the last flashback and goes from there. I'm fairly happy about how I portrayed Chang, the man is so laid back I'm surprised he can stand up straight. But he isn't always like this in the main story you will see his serious side later on.

* * *

Shinji was excited when they pulled up outside the office of the man Revy had described to him as his uncle in strange way, but since the man himself was slightly strange, well slightly is an understatement. The man was off his rocker sometimes.

"Uncle Chang!" Shinji bellowed as he all but sprinted past Chang's bodyguards and into his office. The middle aged Chinese man barely had time to look up from the morning paper before the Shinji-express slammed into him, knocking them both over onto the ground.

"Your ancestors must have been ninjas Shinji, but…" Chang sounded serious as he lifted Shinji above him with a blank expression, and for a moment Shinji thought he had crossed a line but when Chang started laughing so did he, "Where's my hugs!" he called out joyfully as he got to his feet and swung Shinji around in circles, holding him under his arms.

When Rock and the others arrived they saw that Chang was already wishing Shinji a happy birthday and they had briefly wondered what was going to happen to his guards who hadn't even tried to stop Shinji from running through the corridors, but they saw they were trying not to laugh at seeing their boss act like an idiot.

"Shin don't run off like that again alright?" Revy asked leaning on the desk, "Ah two-hands don't be a downer, Shinji's always welcomed here!" Chang said as Shinji ended up on his shoulders, "Besides how old are you today?", "Five! Fuck yeah!" he giggled as Chang picked him up and swung him around again before finally setting down on the desk.

"Finished?" Rock asked with an amused smile, "Ah Rock of course you're here for the young mans gifts aren't you?", "That's right Mister Chang." Dutch said, "We've got a few more stops to make too.", "Of course. But I think I'm allowed to spend some quality time with my nephew.".

Chang reached under his desk and pulled out a box, "You'll love this Shinji." opening the box in a flurry of movement Shinji pulled out a custom made coat for him, it was exactly like Chang's long coat, "Your gift is to try and turn him into a mini you?" Revy asked as Shinji pulled on the coat and pulled out a pair of sunglasses that was in the box, "Fear me Roanapur! Mini-Chang has arrived!" the whole room, guards included descended into fits of laughter.

"Miss Sawyer I'm sorry I didn't see you there…" Chang said through laughs looking at a young lady standing in the doorway, "Come in please… you haven't met my adopted nephew have you?" the quiet gothic lady shook her head and entered the office, drawing looks from the Lagoon crew minus Shinji who was looking at her with curiosity.  
"Shinji Ikari meet Frederica Sawyer, one of my employees.", "Careful Shin…" Revy warned only for Shinji to stretch out his hand, "Hi Sawyer-chan!" Chang only chuckled at the faint blush forming on her cheeks as she shook the young mans outstretched hand, "Sorry Shinji looks like Sawyer has forgotten her Ultra-Voice today.", "Ultra-what?".

Chang explained that she couldn't speak without the help of a small machine that allowed her to talk and that she used to break down without it, however over the years she had been learning to deal with not having over short periods.  
However Shinji surprised her and everyone by walking over and hugging her, "Sorry you lost your voice." Sawyer opened her mouth to say something but stopped, looking up she stared at Rock and clicked her fingers at him, "What? Me?" she pointed to the spot next to her, once he was there she turned him around so his back was facing her. She began writing on his back with her finger, "You can write Japanese… oh right." she wrote a rather obscene word on his back and told him to speak what she wrote, "She wants to tell you… Thank you Shinji-kun…I hope I don't scare you.", "No why would you?" Shinji asked, "Never mind… I hope I can see you again soon." handing Chang a folder and left the room quickly.

"Well that was interesting…" Chang said, "But I must say thank you Shinji, you treated her better then most people have.", "Why?", "She's different Shinji, her job isn't the normal one you expect." Rock said, "Besides she did try to kill us…" Revy said looking out the door.

* * *

September 23rd

"Revy stop shouting… it's not going to help." Rock said as his wife stormed around the apartment, she was a tad upset that their date night was going to be ruined. She had hated the idea at first but after taking her to a few places that he knew she would like, after that it had been a common thing for them. Of course now that they had to look after Shinji they needed a sitter, which was harder then expected.

"Fuck off Rock…I'm just pissed that Dutch and Benny just pissed off like that.", "They got a last minute job and they didn't need us.", "And Chang…", "He's got a sit down with Balalaika, she only got back into the city yesterday and he offered to help fill her in on what's been happening while she's been in Russia." Revy mumbled to herself about the Triad leader and ran her hand across her face in frustration. "What about Eda?", "Not a chance Revy…I'd rather not traumatise Shinji again.", "Fine…" Rock was quickly running out of names of people they could trust with Shinji, until once sprang to mind.

"What about Sawyer?", "Not a chance in hell Rock.", "Why not? They get along and Shinji likes her, plus I'm pretty sure she's free." Revy glared at him before stomping over to the phone, "I'll do it Revy… don't want to scare her off." he muttered as he dialled the number that Chang had given him for Sawyer's apartment.

* * *

Sawyer could just about hear the sound of the phone ringing but couldn't be sure as she continued to hack and slash away on the games console with Lotton as she always did when she wasn't on a job. "Can someone get that. Stop playing on stupid game all the time!" Shenhua called from the shower, clearly not wanting to leave it just to answer the phone again, "Fine…" Sawyer sighed as she paused the game, getting a groan from Lotton, "She's your girlfriend deal with it." she said before answering the phone.

"Hello?", "Hello Sawyer. It's Rock from the Lagoon Company, are you free tonight?" Rock said getting to the point, "Isn't your wife… going to be angry." she teased, "She already is… but we're looking for a sitter to look after Shinji while Revy and I go out." Sawyer froze and thought back to her first meeting with the young boy, who didn't shy away or anything because she was different. "My place or yours…" she asked, "Ours, no doubt I'll be bringing back Revy drunk tonight so it would be best. You'll be paid for your time if that helps?" Rock asked hopefully, "Sure. I'll be there as soon as possible." she wrote down the address and smiled as she put the phone down.

* * *

Rock was never happier to see Sawyer in his life when he opened the door. "Thank you so much… you've just saved me from being Revy's target for tonight." he chuckled as he let her in, "Shinji's in the living room, there is a pizza on its way. You can let him watch a film but make sure he's in bed by nine at the latest. And there are beers and drinks in the fridge, feel free to help yourself." she thanked him as he led her into their apartment where she saw Shinji reading a book while glancing up at the television every now and again.

"Shinji… Sawyer's here. She'll be keeping an eye on your while Revy and I go out, okay?", "Sawyer-chan…" Shinji looked up from his book and smiled when he saw her, "Revy are you ready?", "Have fun…" Sawyer said as she sat down next to Shinji who snuggled up next to her, "Take care both of you. And Shinji don't give Sawyer any trouble.".

"I was wondering if I'd ever get to see you again Sawyer-chan." Shinji, "I really like you, your so cool.", "Thank you… what were you reading?", "Just a book I found laying about electronics." he looked up at her, "Your Japanese is very good Sawyer-chan.", "Thank you. I also know Chinese and English as well due to my friends and working for Chang. You really like him don't you?" she asked with a small smile, "Best uncle ever." he said simply, "Uncle Chang maybe a triad boss but he's still the greatest.", "You don't seem to mind much that he is Triad.", "At first it was a little scary that Revy and Rock were both smugglers and criminals but they promised me they would always be there for me and they have been. They're my family.", "Your very lucky Shinji…" she said quietly.

"Sawyer-chan… what about your family?", "My family… that isn't something I like to talk about Shinji, but I will tell you… they abandoned me when I was young after slitting my throat.", "My father abandoned me… after my mother died." he said after a moment of silence, "I'm sorry…" they hugged each other in understanding of their pain.

Hearing a knock at the door Sawyer quickly went to answer it and saw it was the pizza guy, she couldn't believe that someone would do that to their child. "What's on the pizza?", "Spicy beef and jalapenos." Shinji said cheering up when he smelt the pizza, "How can you stand that?" she asked as she laid out the pizza in front of them on the table, "I don't know I just like the taste." Shinji said shrugging before tucking into the spicy pizza.

Before Sawyer could ask what film he wanted to watch he held up a DVD of his chosen film, "Oh… your one of those…", "Spaceball's is a classic.", "Your five you can't say that." Shinji stuck his tongue out as Sawyer took the film, "Just how many times have you seen this?", "Seven…" rolling her eyes again she sat down and pressed play.

* * *

When Rock opened the apartment door and dragged in a sloshed Revy he saw Sawyer's mop of dark hair sticking over the top of the sofa, clearly she was sleeping but when he entered the room he saw Shinji curled up on her lap with a half eaten slice of pizza sliding down his face.

"How in the hell is he Gendo's son?" he wondered, putting Revy down carefully on the sofa, snapping a picture of her sleeping form for his growing collection, "But he is just like Yui…" Rock sighed as he started cleaning up the mess made by the two, remembering back to Yui's all night revision sessions where she would fall asleep at her desk or even with a book across her face, he even found her sleeping standing up once.

Rock gently removed the pizza from Shinji's face and tossed it in the box, picking up Shinji he carried him to his room, "Your going to be more trouble every passing year aren't you?" he asked as he tucked him in, "… damn right…" a dreaming Shinji mumbled.

* * *

Alright. The whole writing on Rocks back is actually shown in the manga but its in the new Arc only but I'd head over and have a look if I were you if you haven't already done it, hasn't been released yet so you can only get online translations.  
And I put Spaceballs in because its such a good film, I'm a huge Mel Brooks fan.


	8. Chap 6: The Beach and Dinner

Sorry about the delay. Been felling rough the last week and half, waiting for a doctors appointment in the mean time to find out what the hell is wrong with me, but will try to keep on top of this as it progresses.

But I have to say thanks to all the people who have put this on their favourites, and who are following it, you guys and girls are great. And of course thank you for the reviews as well. But here is part two of my double update, enjoy.

* * *

Shinji just watched as Misato lay down a large white beach towel, her dark blue two piece catching every red blooded male's attention, or at least their contents.  
"You know when I said a 'little more open', a beach wasn't the first thing that came to mind." Shinji said as he lay down on his own blue towel in a pair of black shorts, of course he had been the one to carry the towels and the beach umbrella.

They were sat on a beach just outside old Kamakura, it had dark sands and a great view of islands just off the coast, "But I guess I can forget it with this view." he added as he took a mouthful of soda, "Your welcome. Now spill, got anyone special back in Roanapur?" Misato asked with a Cheshire grin, "How did I know you would say that?" Shinji deadpanned as he looked over the top of his shades.

"Because I'm me. Now spill Shinji-kun." with a tired sigh he started with someone who came to mind straight away. "Well there are all sorts of people but I'd know you'd get along with Bao. He runs a bar called the Yellow Flag, thankfully he has a great insurance policy. Its usually gets destroyed every two or three months. You'd be one of the few costumers he's had that doesn't fill the place full of bullets.", "But he's a nice guy right?", "Yeah if you stay on his good side, if not he has shotgun under the counter." Misato looked at him to see if he was joking or not, he wasn't.

"As I mentioned there is Balalaika. She may come off as a cold woman but she is really kind, to me anyway. She runs a trading company and several Hotels and usually gives Rock and the others any jobs that need doing quickly." Misato started rubbing sun cream over her arms and legs as Shinji continued, "There's Sawyer as well. She's a little…odd though, when she was young she had her throat cut and now speaks with an ultra voice. She runs a meat packing plant and is always buying me gifts." suddenly Misato's attention peaked.

"Oh really. Do you buy her gifts?" she said, her grin not faltering as she tried to dig for info on Sawyer, "Well sometimes…But I hardly see her much since my job usually takes me away from that part of the city." what Shinji didn't know was that Sawyer always knew where he was and she sometimes watched him from afar, which was close to being classed as stalking.

"Maybe you should buy her dinner sometime…" Shinji quickly caught on to what his guardian was getting at and he quickly told her the truth, "Its not like that we're just friends. Nothing else." he said slowly turning a beet red colour, "Alright. Alright." she said but she knew better and would tuck that little nugget of information away for later. "Anyone else that warrants a mention?", " is like my odd uncle. He's usually telling bad jokes every time I see him, and he embarrassing me every chance he gets. There was a rumour that he and Balalaika had something going on between them, but I don't know. They do own different shipping companies after-all." Shinji always did wonder but never thought about it in much detail.

"Why are you asking me all this again?" he asked looking up from his prone spot on the towel, "Because…" she lent over and started poking his cheek, "You are a very odd person. One minute your swearing and sarcastic, then the next your all timid and shy. Why is that?", "I don't know…" he tried to move her hand away from poking his cheek but his guardian didn't stop, "Will you stop it!" Misato started laughing as she moved over to Shinji's towel.

From the outside observer the scene would look like a beautiful purple haired woman trying to molest a fourteen year old boy, but the laughter coming from the both of them wiped away and dirty thoughts that people were having and were soon replaced with jealousy for the men. They were watching some kid get tickled by a total babe.

"M-Misato stop!" Shinji said doing his best to stop himself from laughing and failing, "Say uncle!", "No!" she continued tickling Shinji after she hit a sweet spot that was making him squirm, "Say it!", "Alright…UNCLE!" he yelled wide eyed as he saw a familiar man in black knee length shorts and shades walking along the beach.

"Hello Shinji. I was having myself a nice little swim further down the beach but clearly you have…" he looked at Misato and grinned, "A good reason for making so much noise.". Chang stood with his hands in his pockets as he shook his head to someone on the walkway above the beach who was removing his hand from his pocket, "You brought your guards with you!?" Shinji said in disbelief. "Well yeah. I'm not exactly well liked in some places Shinji. And Balalaika can't be watching my ass every time I go somewhere, though I wouldn't mind watching hers…" Chang seemed to drift off into his own little world as memories started flooding his mind.

"Shinji? Do you know him?" Misato asked wondering just why this man had bodyguards wearing Hawaiian shirts and sandals, "Yeah..." he started to say, almost like he was forcing the words out, "He's my uncle. Chang Wai-san, this is Misato Katsuragi." he enjoyed watching Chang's eye buldge slightly at the mention of his full name. "Pleasure to meet you Miss Katsuragi.", "Please just call me Misato. Miss makes me sound old." she corrected, "With such a young lady such as yourself I think that would be impossible.". "Uncle... do I have to phone Balalaika?" Shinji asked raising an eyebrow at his uncle flirting with his guardian, "You wouldn't dare...", "Just what are you doing here anyway?", "Two reasons actually. One is my annual holiday." Shinji held back a loud laugh, "Alright I don't believe that for a second. What the other one.", "Sawyers missing. She was last seen boarding a plane heading here.".

"Why would she come here?" the young pilot asked, "Your kidding right?" Chang said looking over the top of his shades, he looked at Misato after Shinji shook his head, "I take he's told you about Sawyer?" Misato nodded with a large grin on her face, "And I take it that you've picked up on her little behaviour around Shinji.", "Yeah. Just 'friends' according to him." Misato said, quoting friends with her fingers.

"We are just friends!" he shouted, excusing himself to use the restrooms leaving a smiling Chang and a giggling Misato.

"He may think that but Sawyer is attracted to him, he was the first person to see her as she is and not what she looks like.", "And let me guess she's come here to be close to him. Hopefully she's safe, Tokyo-3 isn't exactly safe at night." Chang started laughing at her comment, "What's so funny?", "Sawyer is a very unique young lady. She can easily take of herself, its one of the reasons why she is the ghost of Roanapur." Chang said helping himself to a soda from the ice box.

"What do you mean 'Ghost'?" she asked, Chang looked over his shoulder and couldn't see Shinji anywhere, "Well you know that Roanapur is the capital of crime don't you?" Misato nodded, "Well what he may not of told you is that his family, along with myself have close ties to the criminal underworld. But before you stress yourself out and try to arrest me or whatever, may I remind you that we are his family regardless of what we do and will always looks out for Shinji." Misato sat there completely shocked.

"So you're a criminal?", "Yes. I'm the head of the Triad in Roanapur. And Balalaika is head of the Russian Mafia. And Sawyer…she makes people disappear. But I guarantee you that none of us what to kidnap or blackmail him, before you go off on a crusade of justice or whatever." Chang looked around again, "We're all fond of the kid. He's like the cities own son. But I'm just telling you all this so that were honest with each other if the others are going to come and see him." Misato was silent for a moment, "And we have no interest of setting up in Tokyo-3 or anywhere in Japan." Chang added, "This is just a holiday destination.".

"Alright. But let me say this… If he gets hurt because of any of you I will hunt you down. Got it?" Misato said in such a gentle voice that Chang was taken back slightly by how she had reacted to it, "Um…yes.", "Good." she said as if she just won an argument, "Now there will be no problems in the future. Right?", "If Sawyer turns up at his school you may have a problem.", "Why!?", "She's almost thirty but looks Shinji's age. She could easily mingle with the other students to get closer to Shinji." Misato let out a long sigh and opened her own soda, "So she speaks Japanese then?" Chang nodded and finished his soda off.

"Afraid so. But the worst it will get is that she will just get all flushed and hug him all the time." Chang chuckled, "He'll be her teddy bear." it soon went into long laugh as Chang pictured Sawyer holding Shinji close to her like a teddy bear, "Chang…Chang." Misato said trying to stop the Triad boss from wetting himself as he rolled around on the sand.

Shinji returned and didn't want to begin to understand why Chang was close to wetting himself with laughter and Misato was simply staring at him like he was a piece of meat, "Did I miss something?" Chang stopped laughing and looked at Shinji before falling into fits of giggles again.

* * *

The sun peaked out from behind the horizon as they made their way back to Tokyo-3, Misato hadn't said much about what Chang had told her to Shinji and really didn't know how to, 'If their all criminals does that make Shinji-kun one to?' she thought, and it was something that she didn't want to believe either.

"Misato is something wrong?" Shinji asked snapping her out of her train of thought, "No. Of course not.", "Well you haven't said anything since we got in the car, almost an hour ago." Misato suddenly realised that it had been almost an hour and she had hardly said two words to him, "I'm sorry Shinji. I guess I've had a little to much sun." she was lying through her teeth but hoped her young ward wouldn't notice.  
"Alright. I hope wasn't to much of a problem, I really didn't know he was here." Shinji said. "He was fine Shinji, a little odd like you said but he's a good person to talk to." Misato had decided to leave out the part about the majority of his 'family' being criminals, if he found out then nobody knew how well he would take it and she didn't want to be the one to tell him.

Shinji thought that Chang had said something that Misato may not of wanted to hear, and he wanted to tell her just who his extended family really were but he saw a good friend in Misato and didn't want to loose her, 'She would kick me out and call the police down on them. I couldn't do that to them.' his thoughts were all jumbled up at the moment but he just wanted to get some rest and get his school work done for Monday.

* * *

It was a few days later when Misato invited Ritsuko around for dinner, when Shinji asked why she said it was to simply catch up, with work being so hectic it had been a while.

Ritsuko sat at the table and stared at the questionable food in front of her, part of her was interested as a scientist about what this actually was made of but she knew it was Misato's attempt at 'cooking', "Just what is this exactly?" she asked as she let the brown liquid pour off her spoon. "Its curry." Misato said after downing some of her beer, "I see your still eating instant foods…", "Hey you were invited to dinner so don't complain!" the purple haired captain pointed a set of chopsticks at her friend as Shinji stepped up next to her, "Misato-san?" she looked up at him and opened up a large pot of heated noodles, "Stick some of that stuff on top of this".

She pulled the cover back and Shinji poured the thick brown liquid onto the cup noodle and he quickly wanted to be the one cooking today, but even though he was meant to be cooking all the meals for a month, Misato had insisted on it when she invited Ritsuko over for dinner.

Deciding that the food would most likely evolve into some new life-form if left alone Ritsuko took a mouthful, and quickly suppressed the overwhelming feeling to spit it back out, 'This is terrible. How can she eat like this?' she thought as she heard a small thud, looking over to PenPen she saw the small water fowl had lost the battle to stay upright after tasting the meal. "Misato don't take this the wrong way but next time you invite me over…Make sure its Shinji's turn to cook.", "You like it don't you Shinji!?" Misato said putting him on the spot, not that he wasn't used to it lately.

"Well…Its got a unique flavour." he said as convincingly as he could manage while trying not to heave, he was thankful of his time of playing cards with Rock had giving him a poker face, "See he likes it!" she yelled happily completely missing the blank expressions her two dinner companions gave each other. "You know Shinji you shouldn't let Misato have such a negative influence on your life. You should move out while you still have a chance." Ritsuko said taking a mouthful of her beer, "But I'm used to it. And back home it was pretty much the same.", "He's right Ritsuko, don't underestimate a persons ability to adapt." Misato said with a slight slur.

Thankfully their taste buds decided to stop working after the first couple of mouthfuls, and dinner continued along until Misato was on her fourth beer and Ritsuko was enjoying a cigarette next to the open porch door, "Shinji could you do me a little favour?" Ritsuko said suddenly in a very friendly manner, "W-What is it?" he curiously asked, not really trusting the blonde scientist with any kind of favour. "Well I forgot to give Rei her new I.D card before she left Nerv today. Could you drop it off for me on your way in tomorrow?", "Sure I guess I could do that." he said taking the I.D card from her, but he couldn't help but stare at the exotic girl.

"He's checking out Rei's picture?" Misato slurred out making Shinji go red, "I was not!" he said trying to cut off his guardians chuckling, "Oh look I made him blush.", "Misato I was not staring at her!" but she shook her head and held up her empty beer can as if it was important, "But now you got a reason to go to Rei's place…" she started giggling as the beer began to add up, "I don't even know her!".

"Is she always like this?" Ritsuko asked as she tossed her finished cigarette out the door, "You should know, you've known her longer then I have. But at least now she'll stop teasing me." he began clearing the table, "Oh! Maybe Sawyer might turn up!" she yelled suddenly before settling back down onto the sofa, "Who's Sawyer?" Ritsuko asked turning to Shinji who was frozen in place.

* * *

He followed the directions over to Rei's home and found that it reminded him of some of the slums back in Roanapur, he was busy trying to remember if he was up to date on his vaccinations after seeing the tower block that Rei was occupied in.

"Apartment 402. What a shit hole." Shinji mumbled as he ringed the intercom several times and waited for an answer, Ritsuko had told him yesterday that she would be in but three minutes passed and still nobody opened the door, opening the unlocked door he began to think what kind of girl this Rei was.  
"Hello. Anyone in?" shutting the door behind him he flipped his sandals off, wishing that he didn't have to since the floor looked like it was alive, "It's Shinji Ikari. Ritsuko told me to come over." he called out and could only hear the passing of a train.

It was just a single bedroom at the end of the hallway and the contents or lack thereof was what surprised him the most, on her bed was a pillow with several large blood patches along with her school uniform, his thoughts went back to when he first saw her and remembered she had been badly injured somehow.

"Does she know what the word 'clean' means?" he wondered aloud as looked over the Spartan room, there was a small fridge with a bag filled with empty boxes and bloody bandages and on top of it was a bottle of pills, however a dresser just next to it was what stood out to him, or what was on top of it.

A set of glasses which were broken, they belonged to his bastard father. The temptation to crush them in his hand began to surface but put them back down when he thought about Rei laying on the gurney, "I'd love to ram these down his throat." he was about to continue when he heard soft foot steps from behind him, spinning round he saw Rei. And was surprised to say the least.

She was naked except for a towel around her neck covering her breasts, also he noted that her blue hair was actually her natural colour, somehow. Walking past him she began getting changed, "Are you always like that?" he asked as he turned away as Rei began to get changed, not knowing if she actually was aware that he was standing in front of her, or she just didn't know what modesty was.

When she didn't answer he started tapping his foot, "You know its rude to ignore someone?", "What about entering someone's apartment?" she said in a monotone, "I did announce myself and you shouldn't leave the door unlocked." she didn't answer as she walked past him in her school uniform, "Wait a minute." he held out the I.D card that Ritsuko had given him, "The good doctor forgot and asked if I could give it to you." she took it and just walked off in silence.

When the door to the apartment slammed shut it was then he realised that there was something very odd about the girl, most people wouldn't leave strangers alone in their own apartments for starters. He let himself out and went on his way and what he didn't notice on the way out was a dark haired girl spying on him from an alley wearing plain clothes with an eerie smile.

* * *

Sawyer ducked back into the alley when the target she was following turned and looked in her direction, she truly didn't what it to come to this but without knowing how long that Shinji would be gone the need to see him took control of her. The only downside she believed was that she wasn't able to bring her chainsaw which she felt slightly naked without.

But clicking her heels she felt truly happy that she could be in reach of her target, she couldn't wait to see his face when she turned up in his class, she'd have to thank the stupid nun from the church of violence for getting her the transfer papers so quickly.

* * *

Thanks for reading this hope you enjoy the flashback episode as well.


	9. Chap 7: Battle of Tokyo-3

Sorry for the wait, still job hunting and I've hit a point temporarily where I just don't have the motivation to do anything. I think it has something to do with this weather, I'm not very good with hot weather. But anyway on with the chapter, I've done the whole third Angel in this one because I wasn't up to splitting it up into two separate ones.

* * *

Shinji sat ready in the cockpit of Unit-01 waiting to be launched, he was currently staring at the screen in disbelief, he honestly wondered how one of the most advanced places in the world had managed to miss this.

"Can someone tell me just how something that size and shape was able to sneak up on us?" he was looking at a fifty story tall diamond, how could someone miss that. "As soon as we know, you'll know." Misato said as they neared the launch, "But we don't know what this thing is capable of Shinji so watch yourself out there.", " I always do Misato. Besides maybe we can just stick it on a giant ring for kicks." Misato gave him a sideways glance through the comm screen, "Got someone in mind. Eh Shinji.", "Will you stop grinning at me like that!", "Unit one ready for launch!" one of the techs shouted cutting off the rest of their conversation.

"Alright see you all in a few minutes." Shinji said as he shut off the comms and was catapulted up to the surface, Misato couldn't help but smile at his calm attitude when going up against the Angel's, it gave her some measure of hope that they might be able to finish this war with as little damage as possible.

"Detecting massive power build up inside the target!" Aoba shouted, "What did you say!?" she watched as the diamond Angel changed its form and fired a beam of light at the spot where Unit-01 was coming up from, "Shinji look out!" she cried only for it to be to late.

The energy beam hit Unit-01 right in the chest, instantly beginning to melt the reinforced armour plating that was meant to protect it, "Retract the catapult! Get him out of there!", "We can't! Its melted the gear system we can't use the catapult!" Misato was told as Shinji's screams echoed through the bridge, as he was being boiled alive.  
"Terminate the support bolts for that block! Extend the shield!" she yelled as C-4 charges exploded underground, blowing the reinforced steel locking bolts apart and dropping the entire block down into the geo-front. The Angel's beam followed it down but was weakened slightly by the large shield that was set up to cover the Unit's recovery.

"What's the pilots condition!" Ritsuko ordered, "Life signs are barely registering. Internal LCL temperature is in the danger zone.", "Emergency LCL drain! Increase power to the plugsuit, give him a heart message!", they watched as Shinji shuddered and his heart rate became more stable, "Cover for me I'm heading down to the cage." Misato said not waitng around for a reply as she entered the lift heading down to the Eva cages.

* * *

Shinji was taken straight to Nerv's medical wing and put into a life support machine, thankfully some would say, the damage done was minor at best. But a few seconds longer and the Angel's beam would of cut straight through the chest armour of the Evangelion, which would of killed the pilot.

What they hadn't expected was that the Angel had now begun drilling through the bases armour plates towards the geo-front. Misato had called for a meeting to come up with a plan that would have to been done in under twenty hours, but she made a quick stop at the medical wing.

"You were very lucky Shinji-kun, please don't scare me like that." leaning forwards she gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead before taking her leave.

* * *

"Alright so what do we know?" Misato asked as a dozen techs and several officers sat around a map table in a dark room, "Well at first we thought that the target only attacked anything in a certain range." Hyuga pointed to some pictures of a life-size balloon of Unit-01 which was quickly destroyed, followed by a tank squadron and finally a self-propelled mortar.

"It seems that it changed the way it attacked. And can hit anything in this radius…" Hyuga clicked a button on the controller he was holding, and a large circle covered most of the lake and the surrounding countryside.

"Sassy bastard. So it hits anything in its range, making close combat out of the question. Ideas?" she asked chewing on a pen, "Well all we know is that the core is at its centre, which we saw when it attacked Unit-01. So it's A.T field will have to be destroyed with a long distance strike.", "How much power are we talking about here?" Hyuga looked over at the data and held it in front of Misato.

"Wow that is a lot…" she whistled as she lent back in her chair, "I don't know were we're going to get that much power from.", "From all over Japan." nobody said a word after the mention of that much power.

"What can we use as a delivery system though?" a captain asked as Misato started scrolling through map charts for something, "Contact the JSDF. Lt. General Makashima. He's in charge of the R&D department tell him I'm calling in my favours." Hyuga headed off to make the call as Misato pointed out a small mountain south of the Angels location.  
"We'll move the Eva's once their repaired to the base of Mt. Futago, for operation Yashima!" Misato said loudly as she began rolling off the details of her plan.

* * *

When waking up in the late morning the last thing Lt. General Makashima was expecting to hear from Misato Katsuragi asking for his help with something, god why he drank with her, she cheated somehow he just knew it. He had been enjoying a rare chance to catch up on his sleep at work when one of his workers had woken him up saying that Misato was waiting for him on the line.

"What does that crazy woman want now!?" he bellowed swinging himself out of bed, even in his fifties the older man was still active but his hair was a salt and pepper greyish colour which matched his weathered looked face, "This cannot be good if she's calling.".

He dragged himself over to the phone and picked it up, "What is it Misato?" Makashima said evenly, but not sounding impressed in the slightest.

"How did you know it was me?" came the woman's voice, "You gave your name to my staff and because only you know I'd be sleeping off a hangover this late in the day.", "Well nice to hear from you too?", "Get to the point Misato. I want to go back to sleep." he let out a long yawn as he adjusted his shorts, "Well I have a little favour to ask…", "Whatever it is no!".

"Its about an Angel. We need one of your little toys.", "Wait. The only thing we have that could even be linked with an Eva is our…" Makashima sat down on the desk next to the phone, "Our advanced energy cannon. You do realise that thing can't punch through an A.T field with just its standard charge.", "I know we'll be getting the extra power from the national grid…And the rest of Japan." Makashima was not hearing this, this couldn't be right.

"Your shitting me right?", "No. And I need it in the next ten hours." Makashima sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "I'll get it done on this end. You make sure that your ready on your end." Makashima put the phone down and quickly slipped on a pair of urban combat trousers and a grey short sleeved shirt, "Looks like this is going to get busy." without putting on any shoes he marched out of his quarters and entered the office space of the R&D department.

"Alright you grunts listen up!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs getting everyone's attention, "We have a special task to do. And only ten hours to do it in. But I want it done in less time then that." he moved up to the main computer screen and opened up a certain folder. "Nerv wants to borrow our advanced energy cannon to take out an Angel. So they'll owe us one for this, now stop sitting around and get it done!" without wasting a second people were running around getting everything ready.

"Oh and whoever accepted that call from Nerv in the first place. The next time you do it I'll shoot you in the foot." Makashima added as an after thought, he was not the sort of person who enjoyed being woken up in the middle of his nap, "Who is this for sir?" a technician asked, "One Misato Katsuragi. And she'll owe me one for this." moving an advanced piece of machinery that was the length of a couple of train cars and was about three stories tall wasn't exactly easy.

* * *

"As of today country wide black outs are expected until…" Ritsuko turned off the small television on top of her desk, "So how are things coming along?" she asked looking up at her friend who was looking more then a little troubled, "Were forty minutes behind schedule. Makashima said he'd get the weapon here in under ten hours, he better not of just agreed to it just to get rid of me." she had talked to him just under four hours ago and she hadn't heard a word since.

"Well we'd better move ourselves. Its going to take at least an hour to get to the operation centre with that Angel blocking our transportation routes." Misato frowned at the mention of all the VTOL's being grounded until after the Angel was neutralized.

* * *

Up on the mountain it was a hive of activity as trucks and transports carrying turbines and generators slowly began to stack up against the miles of high voltage power cables and the swarms of cooling units, "This is impressive!" Makashima thought aloud as he continued to supervise the construction of the massive energy rifle, it had been a lot of trouble getting it up to the firing point and he was going to make sure it worked.

"What's the timeframe were looking at here!?" he shouted to his lead technician who was the only member of his team who wasn't swarming over the rifle, "On our honour. We'll have it done in three hours!" he saluted Makashima while holding a wrench in his hand, which nearly ended with a trip to the medical tent.

Thankfully for him they had been able to transport the larger parts such as the barrel and the main generator by VTOL, they had arrived from the south rather then coming from the north were the Angel was. "Alright now we just have to wait." he folded his arms and continued to stare at the large diamond behemoth drilling into the geo-front, "Lt. General Makashima you have been asked to leave the area at once. The next time you will be removed by force." a section two twit said, clearly not understanding the meaning of rank. They had been pestering him to leave the area because it was a NERV operation, but he wasn't going anywhere so long as his rifle was still being built.

"Listen here you little snot! This is the pride and joy of my R&D lads and ladies and we are not going anywhere until after that…" he grabbed the idiots head and twisted it in the direction of the Angel, "…is dead and buried. So run along and don't bother me again or I will shoot you. You hear me!?" he yelled in the poor mans ear as he quickly ran off to the what he guessed was the nearest toilet.

"Be kind General. We cant have you scaring off all of section two before the Angel does." Misato said as she arrived next to Makashima, "Misato. 'bout time you got here." he saluted her, "I'm surprised you got here so quickly." she returned the salute. They both believed that a saluted showed respect and it shouldn't matter about the rank of the person, given the situation.

"Been here for about an hour. As you can see we're coming along rather nicely…Does that look like a fucking trigger guard Takeda!" he screamed at some poor tech, "Apart from the odd hiccup of course.", "At least were ahead of schedule. It's the power supply which I'm worried about. We need to get it set up…" she looked back down the slope were trucks were linking up with other trucks with large cables, "Well we can't really do anything until our pilot wakes up can we?" Ritsuko pointed out.

"That's right. I heard the kid got hit pretty hard the first time round. How's he holding up?", "He should be waking up soon enough, hopefully the next hour or so. He's got the highest sych ratio, which will hopefully make the shot easier for him to make…" Ritsuko trailed off when she saw Misato's face, "Misato it wasn't your fault. Nobody could of expected that attack so quickly.", "I know that… But all I can remember is him, screaming." she shuddered at the horrific sound echoing through her mind.

"Kids got brass ones that for sure. I don't think I'd want to step foot in that cursed thing for a second." Makashima placed a hand on Misato's shoulder, she looked up at him straight into his grey eyes, "Now you and I have a job to do. Right?" she slapped her cheeks gently and looked back at him with determination, "You got it. Ritsuko can you check up with the command centre and see if the power readings are coming through yet?" the bottle blonde nodded and headed for the command trailer, "General. Can you help me check on the status of the transformers and the links to the main grid.", "Of course.".

* * *

Yet again Shinji's head felt like something very hard and heavy had smacked it, and this time maybe embedded itself in his brain. He opened his eyes only to shut them after everything started spinning, "Its Revy's curry all over again…" he groaned, pushing himself upright. Finally able to look around with out feeling like he was going to spew he saw the blue haired Rei sitting next to his bed reading from a small book, "Pilot Ikari." she said with the monotone voice which Shinji wanted to change straight away.

"Rei? What are doing here?", "Once you are changed we are to head to Mount Futago. Where Captain Katsuragi is planning our attack against the Angel." she placed a set of clean clothes on the foot of his bed, "Please cover yourself Pilot Ikari." looking underneath the covers he found that he was completely naked.

"Could you give me a minute?" nodding silently the blue haired albino left, and Shinji slowly and painfully lifted himself up and out of bed, every muscle in his body was yelling out to stop moving but Shinji forced himself out of bed, "I'd better get paid over-time for this.".

He began getting changed into his plugsuit, 'I wonder if Rowland would like these?' he thought as he zipped up the borderline fetish suit, pressing the button to pressurise it and finding as always it became very tight around the crotch, "Damn it. That's going to get smaller at this rate…" he mumbled as he took out his long coat and wore it over the plugsuit, wanting to avoid the stares he got when he wore the damn thing.

* * *

Shinji approached the NERV command trailer where he and Rei had been told to go to by some section two goon, the moment he stepped into the trailer he was tackled by Misato who begun hugging the life out of him.

"Misato… Can't…Breathe!" he gasped not knowing whether this was a good way to die, "Sorry Shinji-kun I'm just so glad that your alright." she gave him another gentle hug just as Shinji noticed an older man checking the readouts on a monitor, "Who's he?".

"Shinji allow me to introduce Lt. General Makashima of the JSDF R&D department.", "I thought Angels were NERV's problem?" Makashima let out a hearty laugh as he turned to face Shinji, "Well I don't know if you noticed that giant cannon sitting out there. But that's our pride and joy, so don't scratch it.", "We have to make sure it works first…" Misato mumbled loud enough for Makashima to hear, "What was that!?" he said wrapping a arm around the Captains neck, "You got something to say Misato? Maybe to say that you have the money you owe me?" the banter continued between the two as Shinji and Rei silently watched on as Misato stretch Makashima's mouth open with her thumbs.

Coughing loudly the two adult babies stopped fighting and looked at Shinji, "I hope I wasn't dragged out of a comfy hospital bed just to watch this?" Misato and the General looked at him before laughing, "Kids got guts. Good. Because you are going to have to listen to the good doctor to make sure you do this right.", "Right. Well Shinji since you have the highest sych ratio you will be the one taking the shot, now while the computers will complete most of the targeting data you will have to manually aim the weapon and fire.".

"What if I miss?" Shinji asked as Ritsuko shifted her gaze from her clipboard to him, "You had better not because the barrel requires a cool down period and the firing fuse must be replaced. This will be around thirty seconds to a minute, but thankfully we have something in case this sort of thing came up." pressing in a command she brought up a picture of something that looked like a large shield. "This was cannibalised from a space shuttle. The protective heat coating will hopefully stand up to the Angels energy blast for around ten to fifteen seconds.", "That's leaving it awfully close Dr. Akagi." Misato put an arm over his shoulder and poked him in the cheek, "Well then you'd better not miss then. Eh Shinji-kun.".

* * *

Shinji sat once again in the cockpit of unit one, and began to hope it wouldn't be a case of the past repeating on him. He had tried to talk with Rei before the operation had begun but the girl would not listen, she said that she could be replaced and that her only duty was to pilot the Eva, Shinji started getting angry once again at his father for clearly making Rei his personal puppet.

He had said that everyone chooses their path in life and that she should understand that people can care about others but she simply went to her Eva, he didn't know if she heard him or not.

While he was used to using a sniper rifle after Revy's training sessions on how to use various firearms back home, for self-defence, she said but it was just so he could kick as much ass as she did. Her drunken words not his.

"Target acquired. Beginning charge sequence" Shinji repeated the status messages he saw in his sniping visor as he kept the diamond Angel in his crosshairs, "Energy Cannon fully charged. Releasing final safety locks now." he heard Maya say over the comms, "Fire when ready.".

Taking a deep breath his began to tickle the trigger, trying to push his sych ratio as high as possible so the shot wouldn't miss. Just as he pushed the trigger, two things began to happen.

One was the Energy Cannon releasing it's charge, and the second was the Angel changing shape as a bright light began to form in its centre. "Oh shit." Shinji mumbled as both energy blasts hit each other, "Replace the fuse!" someone shouted in his ear as he hurried to replace the fuse, "Second build up detected." before he could react the second blast from the Angel went straight towards his face.

Only for it to stop. He was being protected by Rei and the makeshift shield as it slowly began to melt, along with some of her Eva's armour plating, "Come on! Come on!" he urged as the Cannon's cool down period was getting close to finishing. As the shield began to fail Shinji could feel the heat leaking past and it was hot, taking a quick peek out from his visor he could see Unit Zero's armour still melting , "Ayanami move!" he called through the comms only to get silence.

The cool down period finally finished and Shinji fired off the energy blast and watched as it went straight through the Angel's centre, it seemed to float silently before blood erupted from the entry and exit wounds sending it crashing to the lake below, covering the lake and shores with seemingly hundred of gallons of its blood.

* * *

Shinji removed the targeting visor and pushed his Eva upright, "Misato! Is Ayanami alright?" he shouted as he grabbed the now heavily melted yellow Eva, there was only static as he tore the rear armour panel off and removed the entry plug, placing it gently on the ground next to his Eva.

It didn't take him long to exit his Eva and run to the entry plug grabbing onto the emergency hatch's handles, which he found to be super heated. "Shit!" he pulled the handles out and began to turn them, forcing the pain out of his mind as the handles slowly burnt through the gloves of his plugsuit. It was painful that it was hot but also because the material of his plugsuit was melting over his hands as well, "Come on you piece of shit!" he screamed as the two handles began to turn slowly and he found his feet getting covered in warm LCL.

Jumping through the hatch he waded over to Rei's still form, "Rei! Rei wake up" he gentle shook her until she stirred, and looked at him. "Don't you remember what I said? People care about you, I care about you. And would it kill you to smile?" he said suddenly feeling tired he rested against the wall of the plug. He stayed awake long enough to see Rei's smile before his eyes closed, 'She really should smile more often.'.

* * *

Makashima took off his sunglasses and surveyed the damage around the base of the mountain, there were still burning tree's and smoking earth and he let out a low whistle, "Well that was unexpected… but I saw that with my eyes closed." upon seeing everything in front of him he really didn't know what to say to Misato who stood next to him, "Lets hope all of Japan doesn't turn into this." she waved her hand at the smouldering earth in front of them, "Lets go check on the pilots.".

"Well hopefully Ayanami's alright. At least Shinji was still able to move after that." Makashima still couldn't believe the sheer destructive force of the Angel's attack, he began to wonder if the JSDF actually knew what they were trying to fight against when they first attempted to kill an Angel, but clearly after what he had witnessed Nerv were the best people for the job.

The third Angel lay dead in the lake just on the edge of Tokyo-3, both pilots only sustained minor injuries, nothing that a hot bath wouldn't cure as Misato happily put it, however Unit Zero was a write off due to the entire outer armour layer being melted and warped by the heat of the Angel's attack. So for the next couple of days, Shinji was the only available pilot in case another Angel and everyone hoped that Unit-00 would be repaired in time and that Unit-02 would arrive in time from Germany.

* * *

Well the Battle of Tokyo-3 is over, and with it one less chapter before Shinji meets Asuka, I've still got the Jet Alone project to put in but I might make it shorter then I have it or make the next chapter longer and put in a short introduction with Asuka at the end, before continuing with the rest of it in the following chapter.


End file.
